Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party, the Hon. Fred Mitchell responded to a letter from employees of the Freeport Container Port alleging mismanagement and misuse of funds in a recent interview.
The letter which was addressed to shareholders, management and government officials said, “we are writing to you on behalf of the past and present team members of the Freeport Container Port (FCP) to express our dissappointment with the leadership of Mr. Alan Dixon (CEO) and Jason Pinder (Container Port Director/COO). We are of the view that you may not be aware of what is transpiring here at FCP Business Unit hence our reaching our for your assistance on this urgent matter. We humbly ask that you conduct a thorough investigation into the below claims with respect to these individuals breaching HPH’s Company policies and have them removed immediately.” The letter goes on to list grievances such as Alan’s travel and nepotism.
“The Minister of Immigration reports that an investigation is underway with regard to all of the things that have been alleged in the letter and secondly the Minister for Labour says that she’s been investigating on her own, in her own ministry the various charges and the various allegations made in the letter,” Mitchell said.
The letter also alleged that government officials have accepted gifts to expedite the processing of applications. Mitchell said, “Minister Sears assured me that there is going to be an investigation. He’d had already started it and I can assure you that the investigation will be thorough.”
According to the PLP Chairman the Ministers of Immigration and Labour recently met with the management of the Container Port. “If you apply for a work permit you’re supposed to get a labour certificate which says that you cannot find any Bahamian to do the work and the question is whether or not this company has been following all of those procedures. So I’m hoping as a result of that, with my hat on as Chairman of the PLP, that the eyes and ears of the government are now focused on the Container Port and the obligations which it has to Bahamians to ensure that the maximum benefits accrue to Bahamians and in particular those people who live on Grand Bahama.”
The letter ends saying “please do not sweep this under the rug as it projects negatively on the teams already low morale. We shall be awaiting your response/actions to the facts presented.”
