FREEPORT, Bahamas -- Minister for Grand Bahama, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville on June 22 set the record straight with regards to employment in his Ministry. Minister Darville's comments came as he addressed a graduation ceremony sponsored by the BORCO Foundation Technical Institute.

Thirteen young men graduated from that institute as certified welders. The ceremony was held at Freeport Bible Church on West Atlantic Drive. Dr. Darville told the gathering, which included members from the various media houses, that he needed to “set the record straight and correct some untruths about the employment process that we seek to put in place at the Ministry for Grand Bahama.

“Four the last five weeks, we in the Ministry of Grand Bahama have interviewed in excess of 200 potential applicants on Grand for some 30 to 40 jobs. That is how bad it is here. All of the employees that were selected by my Ministry will be reporting to work very shortly,” he said.

Likewise, he mentioned that a number of persons already engaged in the Public Service on Grand Bahama will be transferred to his Ministry.

“I am happy to report that except for my Permanent Secretary, Mr. Melvin Seymour, all the other employees are Grand Bahamians, living on Grand Bahama,” he said. He went on to tell Grand Bahamians that they must be excited and become passionate about seeing their island settled. He said it was important for all residents to be on the same page so that “we will begin to move the machine that is necessary to begin the growth and development for Grand Bahama.”

He further told the gathering that one of the Government’s primary mandates is to double the investment in education throughout The Bahamas. "Now that is a very political statement because a lot of people are misquoting what we said. We are not talking about doubling the budget in education. We are talking about doubling the investment in education,” he explained.

He noted that this partnership with Mr. Fred Delancy and BORCO is one of the typical examples in which the Government seeks to partner with a private/public organisation to produce highly trained technical individuals. The Minister for Grand Bahama added that he was very pleased with comments made by BORCO’s president, Mrs. Mary Morgan, with respect to the programme and the future growth and development of the company.

“I am so pleased at what Mrs. Morgan said today because it encouraged me to keep pushing and keep pressing on in the industrial sector of Grand Bahama to get other partners involved. He added that through partnerships like the one sponsored by BORCO, we can establish the right training to better equip Grand Bahamians for the workforce. The Minister further advised that his Ministry is “working feverishly to set up programmes to allow persons from every sector of Grand Bahama to be involved in the improvement of an economic achievement for Grand Bahama.

Strongly emphasising once again that his Ministry cannot do it alone, The Minister said that we need to partner with the private sector, churches, communities and different settlements in order for us to move in the same direction. He reminded the graduates that education is the key to any success in life and that they should use their tenure at the BORCO Institute as a stepping stone to their further growth and development.

“We must commit to furthering our education, whether it is in the technical or in other fields, but education is lifetime commitment,” he said.