The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A governance reformer has directly linked the Bahamas’ poor GDP growth and low business confidence to nepotism, cronyism and political favouritism impacting how commerce is conducted.

Robert Myers, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s principal, told Tribune Business that business confidence was undermined, and people reluctant to invest, when they had to compete directly with rivals who enjoyed the right political connections.

Disclosing that his own businesses had encountered competitors with such advantages, Mr Myers said the Bahamas needed a complete cultural overhaul, given that such business practices had almost become accepted as “the norm” by many.

“If members of the Government are out there wheeling and dealing with foreign investors, or meddling in business, it doesn’t make for a very level playing field or give once confidence to invest,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business.

His comments came after The Tribune last week disclosed e-mails sent by Jerome Fitzgerald, the minister for education, science and technology, in which he used his Ministerial position for private, financial advantage by lobbying Sarkis Izmirlian, Baha Mar’s original developer, for contracts for his family’s customs brokerage and limousine businesses.

“I own a brokerage and trucking company,” Mr Myers added. “I own a landscaping company that competes with politically connected people.

“It doesn’t give me a lot of confidence. It’s very difficult to compete on a level playing field when they’re wielding their political might and influence.

“It’s criminal and has to stop. It’s been going on for far too long, and people have clearly accepted that it’s the norm. It’s got to stop. We’ve got to change the tone.’

Mr Myers emphasised that he was not picking solely on the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), and that his concerns went “across all fronts” to include rivals, noting how a former BEC Board member was convicted last year for accepting bribes over a generation supply contract.

“None of that is good for private sector confidence and consumer confidence, and that’s why businesses don’t go expanding,” he told Tribune Business.

“The next government has got a lot of work to do to rebuild consumer and private sector investment confidence. That’s a big issue, because that drives markets.”

Mr Myers said ‘intangibles’ were critical to business and investor confidence and job creation, pointing to how recent gains in the US stock market and economic environment appeared to have come from Donald Trump’s election and his pro-business message.

“Instead, we’re sending a message that suggests our Government is corrupt, its not willing to put in place a Freedom of Information Act, is not interested in a Fiscal Responsibility Act,” Mr Myers said.

“Our debt has climbed by $2 billion over the last five years, yet our revenue has gone up by $1 billion and we’re still fiscally challenged. Where’s the next government telling me we’re going to do better? That’s what we need to be hearing in a major way.”

Tribune Business reveals today (see other article on Page 1B) that the Bahamas has suffered four consecutive years of no GDP growth, with two of those years - 2014 and 2015 - actually resulting in the economy contracting, or going into recession again.

The zero GDP growth projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2016 is lower than the Government’s own 0.5 projection in last May’s Budget, and Mr Myers suggested there was a direct link between this nation’s poor economic performance and political influences and interferences.

“It’s good business practice for them,” he said of the politicians and those with the right family and political connections, “but damns and torpedoes the rest of us.

“There’s no confidence in the economy when that’s going on. We can’t compete with that. While it may be good for them, it’s why we’re having this systematic contraction of growth.

“It goes on and on. It’s torpedoing the economy. You’re not getting work based on merit and productivity; you’re getting it because of political connections. How does that work for the rest of us?”

The long-standing practice of rewarding governing party supporters with government contracts also undermines ‘value for money’ for the Bahamian taxpayer, with work not going to the best candidates, resulting in wastage, inefficiencies and poor workmanship.

Mr Myers said the situation surrounding Mr Fitzgerald “needs to be dealt with”, and called for “the equitable enforcement of the law” to apply.

“We need to enforce the Public Disclosures Act and other laws that regulate government, and the people now know why,” he added. “Both ruling parties have been shown to be violators of existing laws and the people must demand one specific change to the laws.

“We have to make governments accountable to the people, and do so at our discretion and not theirs. There must be laws, funding and a mechanism in place that allows the public to act when corruption is suspected. In so many instances the fox is guarding the hen house.”

Mr Myers added that The Tribune’s e-mail revelations suggested Mr Fitzgerald was worrying less about the Bahamas, its education system and the overall private sector, and more about his own family and family businesses.