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Top US trade body singles out ‘bribes of convenience’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian political system is “beleaguered by reports of corruption”, a newly-released US government report has asserted, singling out what it labelled as “small scale ‘bribes of convenience’”.

The US Trade Representative’s Office, in its latest report on The Bahamas and other Caribbean nations that benefit from the Caribbean Basin Initiative’s (CBI) one-way trade preferences, became the latest Federal government agency to raise concerns about conflicts of interest in the awarding of government contracts and systemic “patronage” in this nation’s governance system.

“The Bahamas has national anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws in place, including criminal penalties for corruption by public officials, including a fine of up to $10,000, a prison term of up to four years, or both,” the US Trade Representative’s report submitted to Congress said.

“However, there was limited enforcement of conflicts of interest related to government contracts and isolated reports of officials engaged in corrupt practices, including by accepting small-scale ‘bribes of convenience’.

“The political system is beleaguered by reports of corruption, including allegations of widespread patronage, the routine directing of contracts to political supporters, and favourable treatment for wealthy or politically connected individuals.”

Again, no specific incidents or individuals were cited by the US report. And it did acknowledge that the Government had passed a Public Procurement Act, which took effect on September 1, 2021, as a measure to address many of the concerns previously raised by US companies and contractors.

“US and domestic companies have reported perceived corruption in government procurement and in the FDI (foreign direct investment) approvals process as obstacles. These companies complain the tender process for public contracts is inconsistent, and it is difficult to obtain information on the status of bids,” the report added.

“To increase levels of accountability and transparency, the Government launched an e-procurement and suppliers registry system in 2019, and passed a Public Procurement Bill in March 2021. The Public Procurement Bill will be fully enacted on September 1, 2021, and will overhaul the government contracting process. The Government promotes the legislation as ‘a standard bearer of modern, progressive procurement standards’.”

Some $56.751m, or 73 percent, of The Bahamas’ total $77.598m exports to the US in 2020 entered while enjoying the CBI’s tariff free preferences. Much of this will be the polystyrene beads exported by Freeport-based Polymers International.

Meanwhile, The Bahamas’ imports from the US were down by 8.3 percent year-over-year for the first eight months of 2021, standing at $1.586bn for the period to end-August as opposed to $1.728bn for the same timeline in 2020 when COVID-19 was at its peak. This represented a decline of just under $150m worth of goods.

However, The Bahamas’ 2020 full-year imports from the US showed how much trade reduced during COVID-19. They fell from $3.2bn in 2019 to $2.574bn in 2020, a drop of more than $600m.

The contents of the report US Trade Representative’s Office echo the concerns detailed in the State Department’s annual investment climate statement on The Bahamas and all other nations. Given the frequency with which these accusations are made, it could be argued that this nation is making little headway in addressing concerns regarding the level and presence of government graft.

“The government has laws to combat corruption among public officials, but they have been inconsistently applied,” the US Investment Climate report on The Bahamas said. “The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by public officials, and the government generally implemented the law effectively.

Noting that there was no “independent verification” of the asset/wealth declarations submitted by MPs and Senators under the Public Disclosures Act, the report added that the process also lacked transparency because no summary of these declarations was made public.

“The campaign finance system remains largely unregulated, with few safeguards against quid pro quo donations, creating a vulnerability to corruption and foreign influence. The procurement process also remains susceptible to corruption, as it contains no requirement to engage in open public tenders, although the government routinely did so,” it said, noting that the Public Procurement Act is due to be implemented in early September.

“According to Transparency International’s 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index, The Bahamas ranked 30 out of 180 countries with a score of 63 out of 100. There are no protections for NGOs (non-governmental organisations) involved in investigating corruption. U.S firms have identified corruption as an obstacle to FDI and have reported perceived corruption in government procurement and in the FDI (foreign direct investment) approvals process.”

Comments

JokeyJack 2 years, 10 months ago

They will find every little thing to bark about until we are 80% vaccinated. Depopulation is needed to save the planet from overheating and pollution.

ScubaSteve 2 years, 10 months ago

Ohhh please! What they reported on wasn't anything NEW. Can you honestly tell me that you were surprised to learn that some bribery has been taking place within the Bahamian Govt? If so, you might be the most naive person in the entire country.

ThisIsOurs 2 years, 10 months ago

Clearly JokeyJack just came to the Bahamas after March 2020. So theyre not aware that every year the US State Dept photocopies the previous year's Corruption in the Bahamas report because nothing ever changes.

So they passed this procurements act paid for a new procurements system, then Vaughn Miller stands in the House and says he's been discriminated against because he wasnt able to give contracts to his people but everybody else was

Fred Michell laughed when Minnis said persons not clearing their financials would bdbe penalized. He basically said, try it, there's no penalty in the law. Minnis never updated the law

Clearly we've forgotten the Intl NGO that was solicited for 10,000 during the hurricane Dorian operation

And JokeyJack has never had to get or renew a passport... or had to change flights at a ticket counter

Proguing 2 years, 10 months ago

They need to investigate Hunter Biden

tribanon 2 years, 10 months ago

That's about as likely as Hillary Clinton spending any time in prison.

carltonr61 2 years, 10 months ago

It seems ok for Bahamians to cannibalize all that the Brave lead PLP is doing but keep the party private from the world. The suppression of truth within the power policies of our government decision making that impacts the majority in a bad way to the benefit of one or two and who pulls the strings is protected by the big tooth of silence. We see this in Christian circles lately during government projections toward the regulation of marijuana as tax breaks were added to the bag of fish. What else has the big tooth of silence bitten into. We know from Wikipedia out of country international publication that Gambling became legalized by the Christie Administration ALTHOUGH THE VAST MAJORITY OF BAHAMIANS voted against it, That event is etched in global records. yet there is no public openness on the process which included mass licensees near places of worship, deep penetrations within the front doors dense populations, break every written rule of Bahamas and International Gaming Laws and made laws above our Constitution. Public Health and Safety became the cataclysmic casualty of this large scale corruption. All warnings were ignored by international psychiatrists as our most esteemed chief shrink here in Bahamas sunk his big tooth of silence into the maneuver. The results were the whole Bahamas being placed on a siege of cocaine proportions as children starved as mothers gamble late into the early mornings. Problem Gambling became the greatest crime against child safety, socio/religious order, But The Bahamas is not a place. Who has been paid to prevent the formation of an independent Gambling Commission to have some intervention in gambling harms and persons who abuse gambling to the detriment and destruction of themselves, family, finances, whole island settlements and ultimately society. Some bloody hands are somewhere that Global Gambling Best Practices and the input from Sandilands where gambling is ranked same as cocaine DSM-5 class of activity that leads to total personal collapse. Gaming Board Members are not certified or experienced is gambling/cocaine addictions, interventions or recovery and are not sympathetic to gambling illnesses, recovery and harms. Such is the corruptible void created when silence has power and leaves no trace.

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