The Board of the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation intends to meet on Wednesday with its Executive Chairman, Sidney Stubbs, in an effort to “have things cleared up for the Corporation to move on to the next level.”
“Mr. Stubbs has indicated his willingness to work with the Board and the Minister and to try to do what is necessary for the well-being of the Corporation; hopefully that can take place and you will see a great movement in the Corporation very shortly if this is the case,” said Minister of Trade and Industry in charge of BAIC, Leslie Miller, Monday.
Minister Miller was responding to press reports on Monday of a “truce” being made between himself and Stubbs. According to the reports, Stubbs and Miller agreed to “bury the hatchet” after Prime Minister Perry Christie told the two Parliamentarians that they should end their dispute in the best interests of BAIC.
Although Mr Miller refused to deny or confirm that Mr Christie had intervened in the matter, a reliable source at BAIC told The Guardian Monday that a very “productive” three-way meeting had taken place.
“I think that they were both told that they must work collaboratively and carry on the work of the Corporation, which is greater than any one single man,” said the source.
The controversy embroiling the BAIC Executive Chairman surfaced last September when he wrote several letters to then-Acting General Manager, Geoffrey Stuart, describing him, among other things, as a “festering sore on the backside” of the Corporation.
His remarks drew considerable press coverage and public comment. Mr. Stubbs, in his letters, expressed anger over certain of the Corporation’s employees who were, allegedly, downloading pornographic websites on his computer using his name.
In short order, Stubbs came under additional fire from the Free National Movement, after a number of BAIC employees were fired.
Stubbs was accused of “victimizing” the employees because of their political affiliation, but only several days later, all six individuals, with the exception of former General Manager, Geoffrey Stuart, who resigned, were reinstated, provided they refunded a total of $82,000 paid in separation packages.
The simmering controversy erupted again early this year, when sources at BAIC claimed that there was much “bad blood” between Stubbs and the Trade and Industry Minister, Leslie Miller, which had led to Miller calling for him to be fired.
However, in an exclusive interview with The Guardian on January 20, Mr. Stubbs dismissed the reports.
“I have been hearing these reports from my second day in the Corporation and the reports continue. My appointment from the Governor General is for one year and Dec. 31, 2003 is when I leave BAIC,” he said.
Mr. Stubbs also commented on media reports of him overspending Corporation funds during overseas visits and abusing credit card privileges. He said that the expenditure was justified, in that whenever he travels to do the “Corporation’s business,” he has to use the organization’s credit card to pay for hotels and at times, for entertainment.
Everything that is done at BAIC is documented, he said, and “the Minister or anybody can go and get credit card receipts.” Mr. Stubbs criticized four people at BAIC who “leak things left, right and centre.”
“If something is sent to the Minister, it is also sent out to the Opposition and anybody else who want it. I have had calls and the general manager have had calls from certain newspapers in this country, saying ‘We have just gotten a whole batch of documents faxed to the office, could you comment to these documents,” he said. However, he continued, the Corporation would soon put a stop to all leaks, as the general manager was in the process of revamping the Corporation’s secrecy and confidentiality agreement that would have to be signed by all.
Mr. Stubbs also stated at the time that many persons were trying to paint a picture of BAIC as a Corporation in crisis. This was not the case, he said, attributing the speculation to three or four persons at the Corporation who were unable to accept the fact that general elections were over and a new executive chairman had been appointed.
“The only chairman that is going through what I am going through, is actually, coincidentally the official leader of the Opposition, Alvin Smith,” Mr Stubbs said. “I have read all the files; the same games people are playing on me, they played on him.”
At that time also, Mr Stubbs denied that there was “bad blood” between Mr Miller and himself. “We are all parliamentary colleagues and we are mandated by the Constitution and by the parliament to work together. Our duty is to the people of the country,” he said.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
