NASSAU, The Bahamas — Protests continued in The Bahamas against the Government’s decision to award LIME’s parent, Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC), a mobile phone monopoly there amidst the Prime Ministers defence of the decision.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham yesterday defended the decision of his administration to sell majority controlling shares of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to CWC noting that the public bidding exercise in 2003 and in 2010 resulted in unacceptable offers.

But as Prime Minister Ingraham was putting forward his position to law makers on Monday, persons opposed to the sale took to the streets and there were unconfirmed reports that government legislator, Branville McCartney had submitted his resignation from the ruling Free National Movement (FNM) after the party voted in favour of the 51 per cent sale of BTC to CWC.

In a short statement posted on his Facebook page, McCartney cited “personal convictions,” for his resignation from the party while remaining the representative for the Bamboo Town Constituency.

In his presentation to the Parliament, Ingraham said that the BTC now has a partner in CWC and “The Bahamas will therefore enter into a strategic partnership with an international telecoms giant in order to further develop our telecommunications sector”.

But hundreds of protestors, many displaying their political affiliations on t-shirts, marched in the capital denouncing the privatization deal.

“Fire Ingraham” and “Stop the world and let the FNM off,” were some of the protest signs, while others described the sale to CWC as “Epic Fail” and “Politicians vote for Lime: You’re Fired.”

Protestors also called on the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to be disbanded.

Trade unions have gone to court trying to stop the privatisation deal and President of the National Congress of Trade Unions of the Bahamas, Jennifer Isaacs Dotson, told reporters “we have quite a number of affiliated unions under the NCTUB to support the Committee to Save BTC”.

“Whatever we do we need to combine our efforts. There is no sense in us separating our efforts to try to get the government to change [its] mind in selling BTC, so we’re all here together and working together in collaboration to say to the government, stop, review and cancel this decision to sell,” she said.

The unions maintain that they will continue their protest march until the sale of BTC to CWC is stopped.

CWC, which signed an agreement to acquire 51 per cent of the shares in BTC, including management control of the business, for US$210 million, in February said “a workforce restructuring programme after privatisation will be undertaken on a voluntary basis and is planned to be implemented within the first year after completion”.

BTC is presently the exclusive mobile operator in The Bahamas, as well as a leading provider of fixed-line and broadband services, but the deal requires that the liberalisation process for the mobile sector will commence no sooner than three years after privatisation.

CWC said that the acquisition “will form a key plank of CWC’s Caribbean business, LIME, the leading full-service telecommunications provider in the region”.

Ingraham said that the debate is the final process required for the privatisation of the BTC which he described as being a “long journey commencing with my party’s determination before the 1997 General Election to privatise BTC”.

Ingraham said that between 1966, the year of BTC’s creation and 1992, it recorded profits of US$125.7 million with the government receiving US$10.56 million in dividend payments.

He said that BTC’s earnings for the period 1993 to 2010 totalled US$430.40 million and that during the same period US$151.40 million was paid to the government in dividends as compared with US$10.56 million paid between 1966 and 1992.

Ingraham said that the process leading to privatisation had not been hurried or taken casually.

“Serious time, money and effort has been spent over the past 14 years by Government and its advisors… to ensure that we got this right. When it was determined that circumstances did not provide a good deal for The Bahamas, the Government has opted not to proceed.”

Ingraham said that there had been two separate occasions when the BTC was taken “to the altar of privatisation” adding “we have spent enormous sums of money in the exercise.

“Great damage will be done to the image and reputation of The Bahamas if, after two attempts, we fail to privatise BTC. We believe, are soundly convinced, that this deal is a good deal and that this hour is the appropriate hour for us to move forward on the privatization of BTC,” the Prime Minister said.

— CMC and Observer