Peter Nygard's Relationship with the Bahamian Government creates Unwelcomed Perceptions

A worrying affair

Billionaire’s relationship with govt creates unwelcomed perceptions

By Candia Dames
Guardian News Editor
candia@nasguard.com

In the world of politics, the power of perceptions can never be overstated or overestimated.

The government went into overdrive in Parliament last week, defending its dealings with the controversial Finnish-born, billionaire fashion designer Peter Nygard, who is a permanent resident of The Bahamas residing at Lyford Cay.

But it was trailing behind the bad public relations it had already received on the matter.

The perceptions created by Nygard’s “Take back The Bahamas” video, his flamboyant frolicking with government ministers and his hero’s welcome in Grand Bahama on Thursday renewed debate on money in politics.

The controversial video was one of several that made the rounds in social media last week.

That video showed Nygard celebrating the Progressive Liberal Party’s 2012 general election win while watching Prime Minister Perry Christie’s victory rally address.

Nygard proclaimed as he watched, “Yes.   We got our country back.”

Later in the eight-minute video, a group of new Cabinet ministers is shown at Nygard Cay for a meeting with Nygard.

Some of the ministers involved have branded the visit as casual and blasted the Free National Movement’s claim that it proved that the government is too compromised to govern.

Although at the time the spark failed to erupt into anything significant, the firestorm over Nygard has its genesis in a claim made by Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis more than two weeks ago, that the government was bringing a stem cell bill merely to appease Nygard.

Strangely enough, Prime Minister Perry Christie responded to that accusation when he raised the issue at Jones Communications Network’s “40 under 40” awards luncheon on July 12.

Nygard was present as he received an award for his contribution to youth development in The Bahamas and later told the crowd that Christie was a great prime minister who deserved full support for his programs.

In comments that seemed misplaced for the event, Christie explained that Nygard had approached him while he was leader of the opposition and explained that he would attract experts in stem cell therapy and research to The Bahamas if legislation is passed.

A newspaper supplement from the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence last week that featured Nygard, said he gets anti-aging stem cell therapy four times a year.

The video that made the rounds last week shows him injecting himself with something, but it was unclear what it was.

Another video that went viral shows Nygard walking the streets of Bain Town a few weeks ago.

He was accompanied by prominent pastors Bishop Simeon Hall and Rev. Dr. Philip McPhee and others.

The group stopped outside the church of Rev. C. B. Moss, who has been promoting his Save Clifton message for well over a decade. Clifton is a stone’s throw away from Nygard’s compound, Nygard Cay.

Moss is urging the government to reject what he said is an application from Nygard to lease newly created land in the area.

In that video, Nygard bizarrely proclaims: “I have been dedicated to this country more than any single person in this whole country. There’s testimonial after testimonial.”

With the controversy over Nygard raging, Minister V. Alfred Gray, one of the ministers in the “Nygard Takes Back The Bahamas” video, declared to reporters last Tuesday, “Mr. Nygard is a Bahamian.

“He is a philanthropist, and I think he has given more to this country than many other Bahamians, including those who criticize him.”

In the House of Assembly the following day, government officials corrected that statement, saying Nygard is a permanent resident.

This came amid debate on the stem cell bill. For hours on Wednesday, the Nygard matter distracted from the substance of the debate as minister after minister flew on the defensive.

There is no doubting that Peter Nygard has made substantial contributions over the years to sports and youth development.

He has also acknowledged he financially helped both the Progressive Liberal Party and the Free National Movement.

In an affidavit last year, he said he was a “major backer” of Perry Christie and the PLP.

Christie has said that because donors expect anonymity, it is not for him to say who donated to his campaign and how much.

Legally, he has no obligation to make such disclosures.

Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn’s “word on the street” claim that Nygard pumped $5 million into the PLP’s campaign was just that — hearsay.

But there is a certain uneasiness, an unsettling element to Nygard’s cozy relationship with the Christie administration.

The government it seems will not take the approach and move the Nygard matter under the radar.

On Thursday, Nygard landed in Grand Bahama to great fanfare. He was greeted at the airport by Minister for Grand Bahama Dr. Michael Darville and other officials.

Miss Grand Bahama was also on hand, and there was a Junkanoo rush-out with a banner proclaiming, “Grand Bahama welcomes Peter Nygard”.

Darville said Nygard was there to attend a youth conference he sponsored and was also a guest of the Grand Bahama Port Authority. He said Nygard was in town to discuss business opportunities.

The laying out of the red carpet and Junkanoo greeting received by Nygard appeared excessive and unnecessary and fanned the flames of a still brewing controversy.

When was the last time the prime minister received such a grand welcome to Grand Bahama, or has he ever?

Christie and his ministers broke no law in their dealings with Peter Nygard, but the prime minister ought to be worried about the kinds of perceptions the whole affair is creating.

Pointing to Ingraham administration dealings with investors and raising criticisms in this regard is not enough.

No, it is not enough to point out what the government said is a double standard in how it is treated compared to the treatment received by the former administration on these matters.

Ingraham and the FNM were sent packing last year.

The Nygard issue is yet another distraction for Christie, and it hints at the nasty Mohammed Harajchi scandal, which erupted under his first term in government.

 

Scandal

In diplomatic cables reported on by The Nassau Guardian two years ago, the Americans either had a fascination with The Bahamas’ lack of campaign finance laws, or deep concerns about this, because they widely discussed the issue of money in politics in their cables to Washington, DC.

They noted in a 2004 cable: “Both of The Bahamas' two major political parties live in glass houses when it comes to campaign contributions.”

The cable traced the Mohammed Harajchi controversy — a situation in which political contributions backfired in a very nasty and public way.

The Iranian businessman claimed that he had been approached, either directly or via intermediaries, by “90 percent of the (Christie) Cabinet” for campaign contributions, had helped to refurbish PLP headquarters, and had underwritten several PLP political rallies, among other things.

Harajchi denied that his contributions (allegedly $10 million) were designed to gain reinstatement of his bank's operating license, which had been revoked in 2001.

At a press conference, the PLP emphasized that it is neither illegal nor improper for political parties in The Bahamas to accept donations from individuals, and highlighted attention on Harajchi's confirmation that he had received no favor or promise in exchange for his financial donation.

Christie promised a full accounting of Harajchi’s contributions to the PLP, but never provided any information in this regard.

In a 2006 cable, still on the subject of money in politics, an American diplomat wrote that it is “widely accepted” that the government’s extradition of convicted drug dealer Samuel ‘Ninety’ Knowles would lead to “withdrawal of an important source of election funding”.

“As one Cabinet minister observed, there are no controls or limits other than the conscience of the politician,” the diplomat wrote. “In addition, money can come from any source, including international donors.”

The cable said millions of dollars were allegedly obtained from “questionable sources” in the 2002 campaign.

 

Financing

The need for a law to govern campaign financing is something many politicians have discussed over the years.

In 1980, a comprehensive proposed act “to make provision for the registration of political parties; for the regulation and control of political contributions; for the public funding of elections and for other purposes incidental thereto and connected therewith” never made it to the halls of Parliament.

Perhaps it’s because there was no political will to do so.

More than 30 years after the campaign finance bill was drafted, there are still calls from some politicians — and from other Bahamians — for a law to govern money in politics.

Last week, Christie said it is something he is willing to address, but he has said that in the past many times.

While he was prime minister, Hubert Ingraham said he did not believe that campaign financing laws are necessary, adding that the government cannot “legislate honesty”.

However, Ingraham said he would have no difficulty whatsoever disclosing the sources of his political financing.

Ingraham invited a team of officials from the Organization of American States to observe last year’s general election.

That team has recommended “the adoption of a legal framework on the financing of political parties and campaigns in order to enhance the accountability, transparency and equity of the democratic process”.

Whether the current administration will adopt this recommendation, remains to be seen.

No matter how hard the current government pushes back on the Nygard affair, it is leaving a bitter taste in many mouths.

Nygard it appears has been given the keys to the country, but the government has stressed repeatedly that it is not for sale.

It is now for the prime minister to strike the right balance between welcoming him as a prospective investor while fighting against any perception that he is wielding undue influence because of his contributions to the PLP and various national causes.

Even if it is only a perception that he is wielding influence, that perception could be damaging for Christie and his government.

Christie ought not let arrogance on the part of his ministers cause this controversy to get any more out of hand.

July 22, 2013

thenassauguardian

Should Mr. Louis Farrakhan again visit The Bahamas ...we would appreciate it if he would refrain from meddling in the affairs of our islands ...particularly as he seems to be so ill-informed about our history and way of life

Nassau, N.P., The Bahamas: Louis Farrakhan Makes Misinformed Observations

Tribune242 Editorial
Nassau, The Bahamas

Nassau, N.P., The Bahamas: LOUIS Farrakhan, controversial Nation of Islam leader, was here for a few days last week, saw a narrow section of Nassau life, and departed, leaving behind his usual racially devisive comments.

“I was in a place last night,” said Mr Farrakhan, “that was magnificently beautiful and there were all these black people that came past the gate because Mr Nygard wanted them there on that piece of ground that most black people just keep driving by, they make it a gated community.   And they don’t want no riff-raff.   You come, you do your work and get out.   When night time come, go.   And there is always somebody to ask you what you doing here?   In your land.   Did you hear me.”

Yes, Mr Farrakhan, we all heard you.   If you lived in a crime-ridden land as Bahamians now do, you too would be happy to be behind gates in a secure community.   But to refer to staff who work behind those gates as “riff-raff” is not only demeaning, but untrue.   Most staff — unless they are live-in staff, as many of them are — usually leave a premises, gated or not, when their work is done.

Anyone arriving after those hours — unless they inform the security at the gate that they have been invited by an owner within those gates — are not allowed in.   And, for Mr Farrakhan’s information, the colour of one’s skin has nothing to do with who goes past those gates once they have an invitation.

Apparently, Mr Farrakhan was invited to make the trip to Nassau by Mr Peter Nygard’s lawyer, Keod Smith.   And, according, to Mr Farrakhan, he was flown here from Miami in Mr Nygard’s aircraft.

While here — particularly as he was not interested in the glitter and entertainment on the Nygard estate — it is a pity that Mr Smith did not make more of an effort to show Mr Farrakhan the true Lyford Cay.   Was Mr Nygard told that many successful black Bahamians live behind those gates in the relatively secure comfort of Lyford Cay?   If he would have visited in the early morning, he would have seen black and white neighbours taking their morning walks, or playing a game of golf or tennis, or relaxing around the pool together.

There are property owners — both black and white — who live behind the Lyford Cay gates.   There are also Lyford Cay members, who do not necessarily live at Lyford Cay, but have full access to all of the amenities of the club as would those members who live on the property.   Some of them are even honorary members.   They are lawyers, doctors, businessmen, politicians — all successful black and white Bahamians.

Not one of them wants “riff-raff” hanging around — just as ordinary citizens who cannot afford life at Lyford Cay want “riff-raff” around their premises.  In the context of today’s Bahamas, “riff-raff” means trouble.   Usually it results in a crime story on the next day’s front page of the newspaper.   We are certain that if Mr Farrakhan lived here, he too would be behind a high gate.

And then Mr Farrakhan challenged — presumably those to whom he referred as the ”riff-raff” Bahamian — with these words: “Now either this is your land or you’re not the owner anymore of this.   But you paid a price and the land is being sold right out from under your foot.”

Obviously, Mr Farrakhan does not know the history of this land.   The Lucayans were the indigenous peoples of The Bahamas, not the Europeans or the Africans.

The Lucayans were wiped from the face of the earth when they were transported in Spanish slave ships to work the fields of Hispaniola.

On July 9, 1647, in the 23rd year of “the reign of King Charles, King of England, France, and Ireland”, the island of Eleuthera and adjacent islands were ceded to the Eleutheran Adventurers to work as plantations for the Crown.   Eventually, these islands were populated by the white man bringing with him his black slaves.   So — with the Lucayans wiped out — we really do not know what indigenous owners Mr Farrakhan refers to.

The Bahamas belongs to Bahamians — black, white and brown.   Throughout history, they all made sacrifices to make the islands what they are today.   No one group can claim ownership.   However, once our elected government gives an outsider permission to make The Bahamas his home, whatever piece of property he purchases and gets clear title to is his.  However, should he break our laws, he puts himself in the category of the undesirable.

And so, Mr Farrakhan, each piece of property in Lyford Cay is owned by whoever has purchased it, be he white, black, Bahamian or foreign.

As for selling the land under the black Bahamian’s “foot”, maybe Mr Farrakhan should be informed by Mr Smith that without the foreign investor, the Bahamas would not be where it is today.

Daily, the Bahamian is praying for the tourist and the foreign investor.   Everyone is now holding their collective breath should either or both of these turn their backs on these islands.

Mr Farrakhan is noted for his inflammatory language.   Many Bahamians should remember the sensational headlines at the time of the murder of Malcolm X, leader of the Black Panther movement.   For those interested, they will find a report on Wikipedia under the biography of Louis Farrakhan.

Wikipedia reports, among other things: “In a 60 Minutes interview aired in May 2000, Farrakhan stated that some of the things he said may have led to the assassination of Malcolm X.   ’I may have been complicit in words that I spoke,’ he said.   ‘I acknowledge that and regret that any word that I have said caused the loss of life of a human being.’   A few days later, he again acknowledged that he ‘created the atmosphere that ultimately led to Malcolm’s assassination’.”

Should Mr Farrakhan again visit our shores, we would appreciate it if he would refrain from meddling in the affairs of our islands — particularly as he seems to be so ill-informed about our history and way of life.