Opposition criticizes govt.’s delay to relocate post office

Opposition criticizes govt.’s delay to relocate post office

NASSAU, BAHAMAS –  Opposition leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis said he is not satisfied with the government’s efforts to relocate the General Post Office to the Town Center Mall, and on Tuesday claimed that the Bahamian people have been ‘deceived’.

“I think we were deceived by the timeline [of relocation] and I think the timeline was put forward to get the permission required from their own members to engage the lease of this building,” said Davis during an impromptu tour of the facility.

In October 2018, Minister of Transport Renward Wells made a commitment to move the country’s mail hub from its unsafe and rodent-infested location on East Hill Street to the Town Centre Mall. He said the relocation was expected to happen before the Christmas of 2018, but three months later, the move is still up in the air.

Davis told the media yesterday that if the government had followed through with the Christie Administration’s plans for relocation, millions of taxpayers’ dollars could have been saved.

“Had the incoming FNM government not interrupted the project at the former Independence Shopping Center, that project would have been completed and the Bahamian people would have enjoyed regularized postal services around December 2017, more than a year ago,” Davis said, adding that their refusal is the result of the government’s political bias.

“The FNM was motivated and driven by partisan and not the public interest. They rushed to purchase the Gladstone Road property which proved to be a waste of time and money because it was poorly thought out and executed and the government was forced to abandon that route,” Davis said.

When Minister Wells was prompted yesterday for a response on the relocation, he told the media to give him a week to respond.

Meanwhile, Bahamas Public Services Union President Kimsley Ferguson told Eyewitness News Online that following his meeting with the minister on Monday, he does not think his projections will materialize.

“While there is some progress being made, I think there could be a greater degree of urgency,” Ferguson said.

“I think they were shooting for some time the end of the month but based on what I have seen, I think that is going to be almost impossible.

“Maybe another two months, three months from what I can see [but] my real concern is getting persons out of the environment they are in into something more conducive to productivity.”

About Ginelle Longley

Ginelle Longley is a broadcast reporter and occasional TV news anchor with Eyewitness News, also serving as the station’s evening radio news anchor for 103.5 The Beat. She has reported on news beats including government, politics, crime, human interest, business and even sports. In 2018, she was nominated for the Bahamas Press Club’s “Student Media Journalism Award”.