The Tribune

On Monday, November 5, this newspaper published a front page story revealing a two-year investigation into alleged bribery and corruption at the highest levels of the Bahamas Immigration Department was now an FBI matter.

The story included detailed reports of alleged incidences that should have shocked us, the cost of work permit “favours” regularly hitting the $15,000 tag. Instead, the reports felt commonplace. Corruption is so pervasive that it is widely accepted as how to do business. Only the lucky or the pure remain innocent and untethered to a system designed to coddle the crooked.

In Immigration offices, pay-offs to officers prompt them to do what is called “moving your file”, literally translated into finding your application in the hip-high stacks of manila folders that dot the office, and advancing it to the next step. It was no accident that documents were handled in such a way that made “moving” them entitled the “mover” to a favour fee or commission for personally moving the application of an individual or company for work permit, residency or other immigration-related matter. We know of cases where individuals have waited so long for what appears to be routine handling that frustration leads them to believe the only way to get anything done is by paying off someone inside the department to do it. One man told us “I’m so tired of waiting, I would pay someone to get it done, but I don’t know who to pay, especially now since they are trying to clean it up. Suppose I pay the wrong person?”

If that gentleman is correct and “they are trying to clean it up”, we suggest that rather than trying, the government and the Minister of Immigration Brent Symonette declare war on corruption.

Because mid- to low-level corruption in The Bahamas is so entrenched, ending it is no longer possible without full-out war on the culture that feeds it. That means tough measures must be taken including cameras in every office, body cams on officers on the road, monitors and incentives for tips – rewarding rather than punishing whistleblowers if a charge is filed that results in a conviction, even if that conviction only carries a fine and community service.

Further computerisation and a new system currently being implemented will partially stem the tide of pay-to-play. But until we have uniform standards and rules, removing the need for a human to make the decision on every permit application and until we rebuke the culture of bribery and extortion, the opportunity will continue to exist to exchange approval for dollars. And as long as that opportunity is the reality, The Bahamas’ international reputation suffers.

In figures that have been widely reported, with one being the most corrupt and 100 the least, The Bahamas averaged 69.50 out of 100 possible points as measured by Transparency International over the past decade. According to another source, tradingeconomics.com, the country reached an all-time good record – still far below what it should have been – in 2011 and all-time poor record in 2017 in the years since 2010 when that body began reporting perceived corruption.

Transparency International, considered the world’s leading authority on corruption, ranks The Bahamas well above states like Somalia but far below the cleanest countries. Denmark earns the highest marks for being nearly corruption free, followed in order by New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, The Netherlands and Canada.

Though there may not be any research validating the connection, we cannot but wonder how much education factors in the relationship. Those countries which rank the best in corruption scores are the same countries that lead the world in education rankings. Though not in the exact order, all are within the top 10. They are also countries that have Freedom of Information legislation, providing an avenue by which the media and ordinary citizens can seek information about how their governments and their civil service functions. They can ask questions about what happened to an application and they have a right to the answer.

Transparency International’s local representative, a sharp attorney named Lemarque Campbell, along with Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG), Save The Bays, Citizens for a Better Bahamas and others that make up civil society have called for the passage of a long-promised Freedom of Information Act with funding for the creation of an independent Information Commissioner. The Act has passed, but there is little evidence, if any, that regulations have been completed or the process for implementation is active or the search for an Information Commissioner has begun.

Down deep, the real problem with corruption is that for every citizen or corporation that benefits by its practice, there is someone left behind whose file is not handled as it should be. Corruption cripples business. Without the usual pay-off, why rush to get anything done? Slackness rules where money is absent in a society riddled with corruption.

Corruption also benefits the few at the expense of the many, money going into private pockets instead of public coffers, building lavish homes for the crooks cloaked in civil service uniforms. Pay-offs pad the pocket of the middle man who expedites the transaction and keeps a piece of the dirty money. It is so blatant that facilitators stand right outside offices offering their services and quoting rates to total strangers.

It is true that The Bahamas is far from alone in dealing with corruption. Transparency International says more than two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories it studied fall below the midpoint, in its words, scoring what it called “a paltry 43” on a scale of 1 to 100 with 100 being the best.

“In too many countries, people are deprived of their most basic needs and go to bed hungry every night because of corruption, while the powerful and corrupt enjoy lavish lifestyles with impunity,” explains José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International.

Declaring war on corruption, inclusive of cameras in offices and locations where transactions take place, is the only sensible course of action open to The Bahamas government if it is serious about ending the scourge and building its reputation as a desirable place to live, work and invest.