The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The New Providence landfill inferno has again exposed the Bahamas’ poor governance, a prominent reformer yesterday saying: “The same reason the dump is burning is the same reason the country is broke.”

Robert Myers, a principal with the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), told Tribune Business “there isn’t a single Bahamian, expatriate or foreign investor not hugely concerned” by the ongoing health and environmental risks posed by the landfill.

He argued that the path to this week’s blaze, which started outside the landfill but eventually ignited its waste and forced the evacuation of Jubilee Gardens residents, epitomised the failings that had brought the Bahamas to its present position.

Mr Myers, a former Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) chairman, said poor governance by successive administrations, coupled with a lack of accountability and transparency, and poor management and execution, was now directly affecting the lives of thousands of Bahamians.

“The dump fire is a real, significant health risk, and so is the lack of accountability in governance,” the ORG principal told Tribune Business. “If it [the landfill] was properly managed, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“All of these issues have led to this place. The same reason the dump is burning is the same reason the country is broke.

“It’s the same reason why crime is where it is, the same reason Bank of the Bahamas failed, the same reason Bahamasair is broke, the same reason ZNS is losing money; there’s no accountability, no efficiency, we don’t have the right people in management; and there’s too much meddling from the politicians.”

Mr Myers said governance issues also weighed heavily in the fate of the $23.5 million Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan to the Bahamas in 1999, which financed the bulk of the $33.5 million Solid Waste Management initiative that was designed to cure the landfill woes - and not only on New Providence.

“It’s not just in Nassau,” he told Tribune Business. “It’s evident that monies that were loaned to build proper facilities in the Out Islands have been squandered and misappropriated, and those landfills were not completed properly. It’s a bigger problem than we thought. That’s all part and parcel of what we’re trying to correct.”

The Auditor-General, in a 2011 report to the Public Accounts Committee, said “possible fraud” and collusion resulted in $600,000-$700,000 overpayments to contractors working on a the $33.5 million project, resulting in his recommendation that police investigate the affair.

Terrance Bastian revealed that the project to construct 18 landfills in various Family Islands spiralled out of control because the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) suffered “a complete breakdown of internal controls”.

The DEHS had hired two engineering firms, The Engineering Group and Shepard U Management Engineering Firm, to review the Solid Waste Management project “to determine whether the Government had received value for the public funds expended”.

The Public Accounts Committee report said: “The engineering companies had concluded that there had been a large disparity between what should have been paid out and what had, in fact, been paid out.

“The firms also determined that there had been overpayments to the contractors to the tune of $600,000 to $700,000.”

Mr Myers, meanwhile described the New Providence landfill and its ongoing issues as “a micro thing”, with the ‘bigger picture’ project requiring a complete transformation of the Bahamas’ governance structure if the country is to get back on track as an economy and society.

“We’ve got to put structures in place to change all that,” he added, “a structure that allows us to create efficiency and accountability.”

Mr Myers argued that a Fiscal Responsibility Act, proper Freedom of Information Act, ‘whistleblower’ legislation and the creation of a government ombudsman to assist Bahamians in obtaining redress for executive actions.

The businessman, whose Caribbean Landscaping enterprise lies to the west of the landfill, said yesterday was the first day since Saturday that he had been unable to smell the fire and associated fumes.

“I don’t think there’s a single Bahamian, expatriate or foreign investor that isn’t hugely concerned,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business.

“Aside from the fact it’s burning, it’s a massive environmental and health problem. If it’s not managed properly, it’s a huge environmental liability.”

Other western New Providence businesses expressed similar concerns. Christopher Anand, managing partner at the high-end Albany development, said that while the project had been spared the worst of the fumes and smoke, the landfill’s problems needed to be resolved swiftly.

Urging the Government to “take the lead”, Mr Anand told Tribune Business: “I think the Government is well aware of what it needs to do, and we would hope they get on with it.”

Emphasising that this was not criticism of any one political party or administration, Mr Anand added: “It’s not an issue that’s just evolved. Obviously, it’s been decades in the making, and it’s time to do something about it.

“There are lots of ways to solve problems. I think the business community stands ready to help with solutions, but at the end of the day the Government has to take the lead.”

George Damianos, president of Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty, who is based at Lyford Cay, said the landfill fire was unlikely to undermine real estate prices in western New Providence.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect values at this time,” he told Tribune Business, “but I hope that we’ve seen the worst of it; the worst we’ve had over the years.

“It’s not nice, it’s not good. I’d hate to be living close to that, inhaling the smoke and fumes.”