Bahamas News
04-18-05, - 08:55 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
Bradley B. Roberts, Minister of Works & Utilities
Responds to The Bahama Journal Editorial
“Monkey Wrench Tactics”
April 18, 2005
The Honorable Bradley B. Roberts, Minister of Works and Utilities took exception to the editorial appearing in the April 13th edition of the Bahama Journal. He branded it as “loose journalism” as the Bahama Journal did not substantiate any of the allegations leveled in the said editorial. Just as a reminder, The PLP Party was founded on and has its existence in the principle of advancing the cause of Bahamians and has championed Bahamianzation since its inception.
In talking about successive Governments favoring foreign investors over local investors, the Bahama Journal overlooked the point that even the world’s wealthiest nation and most thriving economy, the United States of America was built primarily on foreign capital. Their economy is rich with natural resources and tremendous intellectual capital but yet even today there is a tremendous inflow of foreign capital in the further development and expansion of their economy. Indeed it is common knowledge that Middle Eastern and Asian interests own a tremendous amount of the real estate and other assets in New York City and are major players on the New York stock exchange.
As a leading media outlet the Bahama Journal needs to put issues in better perspective so as to remain consistent in enlightening its readership. It was under the PLP Government that certain industries/businesses were reserved for Bahamians. That remains the case today which is likely to come under external pressure as we take our place in multilateral trade organizations like WTO and FTAA.
The reality is however that there are any number of local investment proposals that are declined for any number of reasons in the process of a government administrating the people’s affairs.
Regarding the assertions in the Bahama Journal’s editorial that the Bahamasair Privatization consultants could have been local, those at the Journal should recall that it was a transparent and public process that Bahamasair went through in selecting McKinsey & Company. The closest we came to Bahamians even applying was through KPMG cooperating with a foreign outfit to bid, a local Accounting firm bidding and a foreign resident being liaison for a foreign firm to bid for the consultancy. But no surprise there, the strongest base of local aviation expertise resides within Bahamasair. It was therefore only to satisfy full transparency and to benefit from vast international aviation expertise that it was necessary to look to consultants at all.
The Bahamasair Privatization Committee which comprised a cross section of professionals went through an extensive search and exhaustive interviews before recommending McKinsey to the Government. It is worth repeating and just for the record that McKinsey and Company is the largest management consultancy firm in the world. Founded in 1926, McKinsey and Company is one of the world’s premier management consulting firms with 83 offices in 45 countries. It is globally renown as a leading advisor to CEO’s on the most critical business issues.
McKinsey is a truly global organization. Its 6,500 consultants are citizens of more than 90 countries. McKinsey currently serves over 1,700 clients, including 84% of the 100 leading global corporations and 77% of the top 100 companies in the United States. McKinsey has served over 3,600 clients over the past 5 years on over 20,000 engagements. Included in this number is over 160 projects for local, state, and national governments. McKinsey’s work covers a range of engagements in strategy, operations, finance, marketing & sales, organization, and technology. McKinsey has industry specialists in 18 different industries, including travel, banking, telecom, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and retail (to name a few). McKinsey also has functional experts dedicated to strategy, operations, sales & marketing, organization, finance, and technology.
McKinsey is one of the leading disseminators of cutting-edge business thinking in the world. Its publication McKinsey Quarterly is one of the leading business publications in the world. Over the past few years McKinsey has spent over $85 million on its knowledge management infrastructure. McKinsey has over 50 partners and 200 consultants focused on the travel industry, with a dedicated industry research group of over 20 people. Their travel industry experience includes over 1,150 engagements over the past 5 years, serving airline, rail, trucking, postal, and tourism clients.
Within the airline sector McKinsey has served more than 30 airlines worldwide over the past 5 years. They have completed more than 340 engagements within the industry during this period. Their clients have ranged from some of the largest carriers in all regions of the world to national flag carriers in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. They have significant experience in the field of airline restructuring, privatization, and mergers & acquisitions. McKinsey’s airline experience includes numerous situations in which they’ve worked with governments to develop business plans to reposition national flag carriers to deal with today’s challenging airline environment. Their experience also includes extensive work in the areas of Privatization; Alliances; Mergers and Acquisitions; Low Cost Carrier Development; Cost Restructuring; Marketing; Sales and Distribution; Product/Service Design; Operations Effectiveness; Organizational Design.
In view of the advisement taken by me, I firmly stand behind the Bahamasair Privatization Committee in its appointment of McKinsey and the negotiated fee for the consultancy. I would hope that in the future the Bahama Journal likewise takes advisement and disseminates the facts along with its opinions.
Bradley B. Roberts, Minister of Works & Utilities
Responds to The Bahama Journal Editorial
“Monkey Wrench Tactics”
April 18, 2005
The Honorable Bradley B. Roberts, Minister of Works and Utilities took exception to the editorial appearing in the April 13th edition of the Bahama Journal. He branded it as “loose journalism” as the Bahama Journal did not substantiate any of the allegations leveled in the said editorial. Just as a reminder, The PLP Party was founded on and has its existence in the principle of advancing the cause of Bahamians and has championed Bahamianzation since its inception.
In talking about successive Governments favoring foreign investors over local investors, the Bahama Journal overlooked the point that even the world’s wealthiest nation and most thriving economy, the United States of America was built primarily on foreign capital. Their economy is rich with natural resources and tremendous intellectual capital but yet even today there is a tremendous inflow of foreign capital in the further development and expansion of their economy. Indeed it is common knowledge that Middle Eastern and Asian interests own a tremendous amount of the real estate and other assets in New York City and are major players on the New York stock exchange.
As a leading media outlet the Bahama Journal needs to put issues in better perspective so as to remain consistent in enlightening its readership. It was under the PLP Government that certain industries/businesses were reserved for Bahamians. That remains the case today which is likely to come under external pressure as we take our place in multilateral trade organizations like WTO and FTAA.
The reality is however that there are any number of local investment proposals that are declined for any number of reasons in the process of a government administrating the people’s affairs.
Regarding the assertions in the Bahama Journal’s editorial that the Bahamasair Privatization consultants could have been local, those at the Journal should recall that it was a transparent and public process that Bahamasair went through in selecting McKinsey & Company. The closest we came to Bahamians even applying was through KPMG cooperating with a foreign outfit to bid, a local Accounting firm bidding and a foreign resident being liaison for a foreign firm to bid for the consultancy. But no surprise there, the strongest base of local aviation expertise resides within Bahamasair. It was therefore only to satisfy full transparency and to benefit from vast international aviation expertise that it was necessary to look to consultants at all.
The Bahamasair Privatization Committee which comprised a cross section of professionals went through an extensive search and exhaustive interviews before recommending McKinsey to the Government. It is worth repeating and just for the record that McKinsey and Company is the largest management consultancy firm in the world. Founded in 1926, McKinsey and Company is one of the world’s premier management consulting firms with 83 offices in 45 countries. It is globally renown as a leading advisor to CEO’s on the most critical business issues.
McKinsey is a truly global organization. Its 6,500 consultants are citizens of more than 90 countries. McKinsey currently serves over 1,700 clients, including 84% of the 100 leading global corporations and 77% of the top 100 companies in the United States. McKinsey has served over 3,600 clients over the past 5 years on over 20,000 engagements. Included in this number is over 160 projects for local, state, and national governments. McKinsey’s work covers a range of engagements in strategy, operations, finance, marketing & sales, organization, and technology. McKinsey has industry specialists in 18 different industries, including travel, banking, telecom, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and retail (to name a few). McKinsey also has functional experts dedicated to strategy, operations, sales & marketing, organization, finance, and technology.
McKinsey is one of the leading disseminators of cutting-edge business thinking in the world. Its publication McKinsey Quarterly is one of the leading business publications in the world. Over the past few years McKinsey has spent over $85 million on its knowledge management infrastructure. McKinsey has over 50 partners and 200 consultants focused on the travel industry, with a dedicated industry research group of over 20 people. Their travel industry experience includes over 1,150 engagements over the past 5 years, serving airline, rail, trucking, postal, and tourism clients.
Within the airline sector McKinsey has served more than 30 airlines worldwide over the past 5 years. They have completed more than 340 engagements within the industry during this period. Their clients have ranged from some of the largest carriers in all regions of the world to national flag carriers in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. They have significant experience in the field of airline restructuring, privatization, and mergers & acquisitions. McKinsey’s airline experience includes numerous situations in which they’ve worked with governments to develop business plans to reposition national flag carriers to deal with today’s challenging airline environment. Their experience also includes extensive work in the areas of Privatization; Alliances; Mergers and Acquisitions; Low Cost Carrier Development; Cost Restructuring; Marketing; Sales and Distribution; Product/Service Design; Operations Effectiveness; Organizational Design.
In view of the advisement taken by me, I firmly stand behind the Bahamasair Privatization Committee in its appointment of McKinsey and the negotiated fee for the consultancy. I would hope that in the future the Bahama Journal likewise takes advisement and disseminates the facts along with its opinions.