By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Escalating crime levels have yet to cause any existing or potential investors to flee the Bahamas, the Government’s investments minister said yesterday.
Khaalis Rolle told Tribune Business that no investor had informed the Christie administration they were abandoning planned investments because of the soaring murder rate and general rise in crime.
Revealing that he sometimes raised the issue in meetings with potential investors, Mr Rolle said he sought to reassure them that crime in the Bahamas stemmed largely from domestic causes, and there was no deliberate targeting of foreigners or their projects/customers.
“Let’s put it this way. I haven’t had anyone say they’re not going to do this investment because of this crime situation,” the Minister of State for Investments told Tribune Business.
“That’s the best I can put it. Whether people looked at the crime levels and made a decision we’re not aware of, I can’t say, but everyone I’ve spoken to is still interested in the Bahamas.”
Acknowledging that crime was “an ongoing concern” and threat to the Bahamian economy, especially this nation’s attractiveness as a tourism and foreign direct investment (FDI) jurisdiction, Mr Rolle said the topic never made for an easy discussion with investors.
“If investors don’t bring it up, I sometimes bring it up,” he disclosed, “just to indicate that many of the issues are related to domestic problems connected to gangs. It’s never an easy discussion to have.”
Mr Rolle said, though, that many investors were “comforted” to hear that the Bahamas was planning to take co-ordinated, strategic action to deal with its problems through the proposed National Development Plan (NDP).
“A lot of people are comforted when we sit down and share the initiatives we’re doing with the National Development Plan,” he added.
“People are comforted that there is a better diagnosis of the problem, and that we are developing a way forward to deal with it.”
Mr Rolle said the National Development Plan had received widespread backing from the Bahamian private sector, and the various industry associations and bodies within it.
“We’ve had many meetings with the private sector, and they’re fully on board,” he told Tribune Business. “I’ve not met with a group yet who said this is not going to work.
“Every group who has reviewed it [the National Development Plan] have said this is the best piece of work that they’ve ever seen in terms of analysing development and establishing a path for the future.
“We’re confident we know where we are, and where we need to go, more so that at any point in modern history.”
Mr Rolle emphasised that there was no ‘quick fix’, overnight solution to the Bahamas’ crime woes, which had been allowed to develop over several decades in the absence of “a co-ordinated, comprehensive and strategic plan” to combat the root causes.
“It’s not a single quarter problem,” the Minister told Tribune Business. “One of the things that became very clear to me, and is now even more clearer to me, is that without a comprehensive and integrated National Development Plan and strategy, you will get marginal results.”
Reiterating a constant theme he has been pushing for the past year, Mr Rolle said the Bahamas would not achieve the economic, social and development results it desires, regardless of whichever government is in power, without a National Development Plan.
He added that when it came to crime, the Bahamas had frequently emphasised tackling the “symptoms” rather than “the underlying pathology of the issue”.
Mr Rolle said: “We don’t know what the inputs are, and as a result can’t develop a strategy to target or strengthen the inputs.”
Comments
asiseeit 8 years, 3 months ago
Sorry Mr. Rolle, you where a man of substance one time ago, now you are just another lying, no good politician who can not be believed. Stop telling the people what you yourself know to be false.
TalRussell 8 years, 3 months ago
Comrade Minister Khaalis says: "Escalating crime levels have YET to cause any existing or potential investors to FLEE we Bahamaland."
Really now, who in hell are preparing press releases for crown ministers this governing PLP party......maybe da economic and tourism public relations Comrades around Cuba's Fidel Castro's younger brother Rauel?
by TalRussell
hj 8 years, 3 months ago
lol, not to worry, investors will flee when they will realize they are dealing with third world type politicians who can't even manage a small economy,with xenophobic and racist ministers,not to mention under the table deals
TalRussell 8 years, 3 months ago
Comrade HJ I'm thinking if izmirlian took flight to Delaware whilst not telling Prime Minister Christie in advance, why would investors in flight from crime thinks we best call-up minister Khaalis keeps him abreast we exit plans.
Honestman 8 years, 3 months ago
Sorry Khaalis but this is bullsh*t They might not tell you that crime is a factor as they leave the door shut behind them but only a fool would think that the increase in serious crime is not one of several serious misgivings foreign investors have with The Bahamas these days. The lunatics are truly running the asylum and former inmates are all on the loose and heavily armed.
GrassRoot 8 years, 3 months ago
He is right, why would an investor leave all his investments in the Bahamas behind and leave? Even if they wanted, they could not find a buyer, unless they give it practically away. But that's not a concern and as long as Bahamas is not on the level of Ecuador or Nicaragua, where the government thugs just walk into your office to seize your company (we are probably almost there after what happened to a large investor on Cable Beach), the issue is not the leaving of investors, but rather the NOT COMING OF NEW INVESTORS (besides the usual corner-cutters and scavengers). So yes, I have to agree with my fellow commentators above, its just another headline grabber with no substance behind it. Of course there is not quick fix, but the task to steer this ship around has become so monumental given the decade long disinterest and laissez faire policies of the subsequent governments, that no one seems to dare to take on this big task. Neither Khaalis, nor PGC, nor anybody in the current government looks anywhere like either a Warren Buffett or a Hercules to fix this.
BaronInvest 8 years, 3 months ago
“Let’s put it this way. I haven’t had anyone say they’re not going to do this investment because of this crime situation”
That's because you still have a lot of dirt in your ears because your head is still in the sand of one of the beaches... I'm not a politician and i know quite a few cases where people did not buy a house outside a gated community because the majority of realtors mentioned that crime levels are rising. So if you own properties outside a gated community you are screwed. It's not affecting high-level investments but foreigners who like to purchase properties in the 250-500k ranges are greatly limited already.
And if you think that a country that has a higher murder-rate than south africa isn't affected by crime you are an idiot. You are at the Top 12 - The Bahamas, 29.8
Rwanda (23.1), Brazil (25.2), Democratic Republic of the Congo (28.3) are safer places to live in.
Source : http://list25.com/25-countries-with-t...">http://list25.com/25-countries-with-t...
asiseeit 8 years, 3 months ago
PLP = The Bahamian Mafia
banker 8 years, 3 months ago
I know of HNWI's who are leaving because of the crime -- solely for that reason, and taking their money with them. Someone should ask around as to how many of the large houses are privately for sale in Ocean Club Estates and how long it takes to sell them.
As usual, any and all PLP politicians are liars, prostitutes, whores, scum and thieves.
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