The Tribune

IN the build-up to the last election, the company given the contract to handle the Travel Health Visa payments, Kanoo, was very much in the spotlight.

In June, the then Tourism Minister, Dionisio D’Aguilar, defended the award of the no-bid contract to Kanoo, in the wake of a PLP press conference which highlighted the company’s association with Dr Nigel Lewis, the co-manager of the FNM general election campaign.

Mr D’Aguilar said: “I don’t know why all this attention is being brought to Kanoo.”

Both the PLP and the FNM have issued no-bid contracts in the past for the sake of expediency, but in that press conference in June, then Opposition leader Philip “Brave” Davis accused the Minnis administration of helping FNM insiders with its contract awards.

Social media was abuzz with criticism of the deal too – so once in office, presumably the PLP wouldn’t follow the same path of giving a substantial no-bid contract, right?

Well, it seems that’s the very thing that has been done in giving a no-bid contract to Colina Insurance Limited to provide insurance services under the very same Travel Health Visa programme that was much criticised for giving a no-bid contract to Kanoo to serve.

Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper yesterday confirmed there was no tendering process, saying it was because of time constraints.

Asked what was different about the no-bid contract to Colina and the no-bid contract to Kanoo, he declined to compare the two, saying: “I am not going to get into the politics of Kanoo and the Bahamas Travel Health Visa.”

This comes despite the Auditor General, Terrance Bastian, providing a report just last week which broadly praised the Travel Health Visa scheme, but which did criticise the lack of competitive bidding associated with the programme since its inception. That report was ordered before Colina was given the insurance contract.

Mr Bastian acknowledged the time pressures officials faced in executing the visa programme initially, but said it should still have gone out to tender, particularly for the insurance contract because of the significant costs associated with that service.

Despite that, here we are with another contract going out on a no-bid basis. There is no suggestion, we should add, that Colina has done anything wrong in this, it has merely provided a quote for services and been accepted.

But after being so critical in opposition, is the new administration showing consistency in offering no-bid contracts itself? Is this do as I say, not as I do?

If the government now says there was no time so they had to award the contract without a tender process, does that not apply the same for the contract awarded by its predecessor? How is one different from the other?

This is the kind of frustration that those in the business market face when dealing with government – finding any kind of consistency in government, and the frustration of being caught in the middle of the political push and pull when just trying to provide the services requested.

The public needs to have faith that whichever party is governing, contracts are being awarded fairly and bringing the best value for money. If that means a clampdown on no-bid contracts, so be it – but live up to your words when in office. If you don’t, then don’t be surprised if you open yourself to easy criticism. And after all the politics that got us here, don’t cry off commenting now because you don’t want to “get into the politics”.

Pig attractions

Imagine waking up in your residential neighbourhood to suddenly find businesses bringing busloads of visitors in from cruise ships to go swimming with the pigs at not one, but two attractions.

That’s the situation in Adelaide Village, where residents are complaining that they want both Da Pig Beach and Beyond Da Village Pig Experience relocated? Where to? Well, an area properly zoned for commercial use.

Residents of Beach Drive have sent a petition wanting to know when regulators will finally “clamp down on enforcing the law and stop businesses opening in residential areas”.

Fair enough – after all, what’s the point of zoning if it isn’t followed and enforced?

There will be those who say this is bringing jobs to a very deprived part of New Providence, but why can’t they take that business to an area that is properly zoned for it?

It appears the businesses have opened up without the required Town Planning sign-off.

One local resident is Sam Duncombe, the environment activist, who said that the entire neighbourhood is “being bombarded by tour buses, cars and all-terrain vehicles, and boats and jet skis… pigs are screaming, staff are screaming and the tourists are screaming”.

A Town Planning meeting is now to take place for Da Village Pig Experience – despite it apparently operating already for eight months.

It is excellent to see new enterprises starting up – but let’s make sure they’re in places designated for them, or what’s the point of the regulations in the first place?