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Hon. Hyde Says Strip Brads of Boledo Contract
posted (November 23, 2018)
And finally from the house session, PUP Deputy Leader Cordel Hyde spoke on the adjournment about a matter of public interest, and that's Brad's Boledo franchise. His 10 year license is coming up for renews and Hyde says government should think twice - and put the bold back in public hands:...

Hon. Cordel Hyde- PUP Senior Deputy
"I believe it was in 2009 that Bards and Friends were given a 10 year contract to administrate our Boledo franchise. So, I imagine that at some time, pretty soon, it will come up for consideration. I wanted to put the government on notice that they really need to do the right thing here. They really need to rescind that contract. The only problem I can recall is that government was complaining that they are only getting a million dollars in taxes from the sale of Boledo. $500 thousand let's say; so, they say, 'Okay, we are going to give Mr. Brads and his Friends the goose that lays the golden egg'; just so that he can pay them $2 million in taxes. Well, as I understand it, from very knowledgeable people, Brads and Friends are raking in somewhere between $22 million and $30 million dollars a year in profits. Now, let us check that out for a minute, madam speaker. If they are making $30 million a year, over the last $9 years, you are talking about $270 million. Let us say it is not $30 million, let us say it is $20 million a year. Over a 9 year period you are talking about $180 million. But, let us say it is not. Let us say it is $10 million a year, they would have gotten $90 million over the last 9 years. Who foregoes that can of money? Which government foregoes that kind of money? Which government? But you are saying to us that you can't administrate boledo. That you are incompetent, that you can't run boledo. Why else are you outsourcing boledo to Brads and Friends?"

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow- PM
"The member's arguments would have been far more compelling if he had been able to furnish us with substantiated data. You can't just pull figures out of the air and then say, 'Well he is making $30 million, if it is not $30 it is $20 or let's say it is $10.' We need the facts and the bottom line is that when the boledo was privatized, the government was making a grand total of $500 thousand a year. There was a period when even that revenue stream dropped."

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