The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president has called for a “drastic improvement” in public sector management, and is urging a reduction in the size of the “bloated and inefficient civil service”.

Kevin Seymour’s call came after a recent Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report found the Bahamas made virtually zero progress in improving its public sector management efficiency and performance over a five-year period to 2013.

For the years 2009-2013, the Bahamas scored a rating of 0.9 (optimal rating 5) when measured by IDB’s PRODEV Evaluation Tool (PET). This assesses the capacity of government institutions to manage the public sector efficiently..

Pointing out that a “drastic improvement is required here”, Mr Seymour said: “Steps need to be immediately taken to increase automation in areas involving high transaction volume, and to rationalise salaries and emoluments through reduced head count” in the civil service.

Going through what he described as ‘10 key issues’ to improve the Bahamas’ economic performance and competitiveness, the GB Chamber president said: “With more countries seeking to attract foreign direct investors, relevant government agencies such as the Bahamas Investment Authority, National Economic Council, Immigration Department and the Central Bank of the Bahamas need to become more agile and responsive, with quicker turnaround times for the processing of foreign direct investment applications, and work permit and banking facilities approvals respectively.

“At the same time, safeguards must be put in place to ensure that taxes are kept at relatively low levels.”

Mr Seymour also called on the Bahamas to move rapidly on energy sector reform, via the upgrading of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s (BEC) main generation assets and infrastructure.

While the Government has passed enabling legislation and regulations, it has yet to close the BEC management contract with PowerSecure, and Mr Seymour urged a renewed focus on green, alternative energy sources.

“Sea and airports, roads, clinics and primary and secondary schools in the Family Islands need to be upgraded and maintained through the creative use of public-private partnerships,” the Chamber president added.

And, with National Health Insurance (NHI) on the horizon, Mr Seymour called on the Government to address wastage in the delivery of public health services.

“According to recently-released statistics by a Government consultant, the estimated level of financial wastage in the country’s public health care system stands at 40 per cent,” he said.

“This core concern needs to be addressed and remediated prior to proceeding with the proposed implementation of the Government’s proposed National Health Insurance programme.”