The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Crime will be “catastrophic” for the Bahamian economy if it continues to grow unchecked, with a top accounting firm calling for a complete overhaul of the education and security/justice systems to combat it.

KPMG, in its analysis of the mid-year Budget, said crime was placing an increasing financial burden on Bahamian taxpayers via the Government, as well as all the other costs it inflicted upon society.

The accounting firm said that, combined, the police, Defence Force, prison service, legal services, judicial system and social services accounted for $350 million or almost 20 per cent of the Government’s recurrent 2014-2015 Budget.

And the Government had increased resources allocated to these areas by a further $24 million in the mid-year Budget.

Noting that the Bahamian economy was especially vulnerable to crime, given its dependence on tourism and foreign direct investment (FDI), KPMG said: “The issue of crime continues to be a massive thorn in the side of economic progress.

“While a lack of economic opportunities in the recent global down turn have contributed to increased crime, the fundamental cause of crime in the Bahamas runs far deeper into the fabric of society......

“If crime continues the way it is going, it will be catastrophic for a country that is trying to attract more investment and increased tourism. In the mid-year Budget, the Government has further increased the amount of recurrent resources allocated to key areas of public order, safety and defense by $24 million.”

Turning to solutions, KPMG added: “Ultimately, we believe that the justice and security system needs wholesale radical overhaul. It is not just about investing in more crime fighting assets, but about attacking crime at every stage of its life cycle – from its social beginnings, to even better, more efficient policing, to swifter, more efficient handling of justice, to incarceration, and to results oriented rehabilitation.

“Connected to the issue of crime is the poor state of the public education system. We recognise the steps being taken through training agencies and transitioning the College of the Bahamas to University status.

“However, our education system is clearly far from producing the desired results and young people with the right qualities for becoming highly productive in the workforce, and indeed criminality is starting in schools. Again, wholesale reform of the education system should be considered.”

Jerome Fitzgerald, minister of education, in his address last week to the eighth Inter-American meeting of education ministers, admitted 40 per cent of the Bahamian workforce lacks the education to compete in a “merciless” global economy.

He disclosed that more than one-third of the current Bahamian workforce had failed to graduate from high school.

Agreeing that this posed a threat to Bahamian economic sustainability in an increasingly competitive world, Mr Fitzgerald said “a poorly educated populace” retards GDP growth and tax collections, increases crime and overburdens a nation’s health and social services infrastructure.

The Minister said that when it came to education, the Bahamas had expected different results while continuing to do the same thing - meaning it has failed to implement meaningful reforms to improve decades of dismal performance that now threaten what a senior private executive has branded a “social disaster”.

“We teach the same things year after year, using the same methods, and appear mystified when we get the same results,” Mr Fitzgerald said in his address. “Case in point, in my country the graduation rate in the public school system has been roughly at 50 per cent for the past 15 years.......

“We have recorded about 2,500 students not meeting the criteria to graduate each year. As a quick calculation, over the years this group now accounts for about 35 to 38 per cent of the present workforce.

“The next question is: How does a country sustain itself if as much as a third to 40 per cent of its population do not possess a basic education in a world where change is not only constant, but almost instant, and the pressure of competition and market forces can be merciless and devastating.”