The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader yesterday said estimates that Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival generated a $50-$60 million economic stimulus were “very ambitious and not realistic”.

Branville McCartney said these projections must have been uttered by Bahamas National Festival Commission chairman, Paul Major, in “a moment of excitement” as he blasted the Government’s continued failure to release the Carnival’s economic impact assessment.

Mr Major, when contacted by Tribune Business, declined to respond directly to Mr McCartney’s comments.

When asked by this newspaper whether he stood by his $50-$60 million economic impact forecast, Mr Major replied: “Don’t press me for that yet. Let us [the Commission] finish our work.”

Tribune Business can reveal that Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas), the accounting firm, has been contracted to complete the Carnival’s economic impact assessment.

However, Raymond Winder, Deloitte & Touche’s managing partner, disclosed to Tribune Business that the report was not yet completed, and it was “still waiting for information” from the Commission and others.

Mr Major said he was unable to speak for Deloitte & Touche, but confirmed: “They are doing an assessment also, yes.”

When asked to clarify whether the Commission and Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) were conducting separate assessments, he replied: “Not exactly. The Commission has done its work, and we need to compare notes. It’s a little of both. We just need to collaborate in short order.”

Mr Major said data for the economic impact assessment needed to be drawn from a variety of sources, including the Commission, the police and Ministry of Tourism.

However, Mr McCartney said the Government had reneged on its pledge to release the Carnival’s economic impact assessment report within 21 days, pointing out that it was now almost two months later.

He suggested that the report would have been released immediately if the news was “good”, and said the issue again highlighted the Government’s lack of transparency and accountability to the Bahamian people.

As for Mr Major’s suggestion that the Carnival would have increased Bahamian GDP by $50-$60 million, Mr McCartney told Tribune Business: “That’s very ambitious on his part, and not realistic at all. He must have said that in a moment of excitement.

“It was said by Paul Major that it would increase GDP by $50-$60 million. I’m sure that was not the true outcome, but that is what was projected. We wait and see.”

The DNA leader added: “The question of whether the Government made money from Carnival still looms. The Government has exhibited a lack of transparency and accountability to the Bahamian people.

“Carnival was two months ago, and you’re telling me we are so backward, we are so inept, that we are unable to give an account as to whether $9 million was spent and we made an extra $1 million, or did we lose from Carnival from a financial point of view.

“The Government has not come back and told the Bahamian people whether spending that $9 million is a plus or minus for the country. If it was good news, they would have said it a long time ago,” Mr McCartney said.

“It goes to the tenets of good governance - transparency and accountability to the Bahamian people. It was the Bahamian people’s money they used. It was to stimulate the economy, and they said they would revert to the Bahamian people and advise them on the outcome.”

Mr McCartney also accused the Government and Commission of “setting a bad precedent” again by electing to compensate vendors who alleged they lost money at the Festival.

Arguing that this again opened the door to vendors and businesses making claims for similar events, he added: “Some of the vendors complained they did not make any money, and the Government took it upon itself to pay them, again setting a bad precedent.”