Prime Minister Perry Christie has been left scrambling to find a new chairman of the Bahamas Development Bank after learning that the act governing the institution prevents sitting Members of Parliament from serving on the Board of Directors.
The prime minister had intended to appoint Elizabeth MP Malcolm Adderley as chairman, according to a source close to him. But a provision of the Bahamas Development Act prohibits this.
The source told the Bahama Journal that the prime minister intends to appoint a chairman to the bank as early as next week.
As a result of the state of limbo engulfing the Bahamas Development Bank, a number of projects are threatened, the Bahama Journal has learnt.
An executive of the bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said today that employees at the institution are “totally confused.”
“We’re very, very concerned,” he said. “We’re more or less paralysed here.”
The board held a meeting last week and appointed an acting chairman, but that person cannot carry out any statutory functions like signing legal documents on the bank’s behalf.
“Just like BAIC, we have problems,” the source said.
When asked if he thought the government was perhaps moving too slowly on the matter, he responded, “They’re not moving too slowly. They’re not moving at all.”
The Development Bank was left without a chairman when Macgregor Robertson abruptly resigned last month citing lack of communication with key government officials who he said did not answer his inquiries regarding his future with the establishment.
Mr. Robertson said he resigned after he saw a draft Memorandum of Understanding to the bank from the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation naming Mr. Adderley as the new chairman. “I don’t do business like that,” Mr. Robertson told the Bahama Journal shortly after his resignation.
Mr. Adderley told the Bahama Journal several weeks ago that he had heard his name was being called in relation to the position, but he wished not to comment further on the matter.
He told the Journal yesterday that he was aware that a sitting Member of Parliament could not serve on the bank’s Board of Directors.
After Mr. Robertson resigned, Prime Minister Christie said in a Journal interview that he had heard of the memorandum that had Mr. Adderley’s name on it. But before Journal inquiries, he appeared unaware that Mr. Robertson had even resigned.
After talking to Mr. Robertson to confirm his resignation, Mr. Christie told the Journal that he could see how Mr. Robertson would make the decision to step down if indeed he received communication naming a new chairman.
The Development Bank has been in limbo for many weeks now. A previous concern was that the government had not immediately renewed the contract of the bank’s Managing Director George Rodgers.
The Journal’s source at the bank said today Mr. Rodger’s contract was recently renewed, but the big concern remains the lack of a chairman at the bank.
The Bahamas Development Bank, a wholly owned government institution, was formed through an Act of parliament in 1974 and became operational on July 21, 1978.
The bank’s primary purpose is to assist the economic development of The Bahamas by providing financial and technical assistance in the areas of agriculture, fisheries, tourism, manufacturing services and transportation industries.
Small business development is also encouraged through various programmes.
The Bahama Journal
