The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Ninety per cent of work permit applications come from Bahamian businesses and individuals, a former Immigration Minister telling Tribune Business that the Government did not understand the need to “run the Bahamas as a business”.

Branville McCartney, minister of state for immigration under the former FNM administration, said the Government often “forgot” that the bulk of work permit applications came from Bahamian-owned and managed businesses.

Implying that the rigid application of a ‘hard line’ work permit policy would damage Bahamian corporate interests, and their growth and productivity, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader said the attitude appeared to be that it was ‘”foreigners applying for foreigners”.

“Bear in mind that 90 per cent of the time it is Bahamians who are making the application, from business people to individuals,” Mr McCartney told Tribune Business. “It’s not foreigners applying for foreigners; it’s Bahamians applying, for the most part, and they seem to forget that.

“One of the problems is that we have a government that does not understand a country needs to be run like a business. We have a country run by politicians, and they do things from a political viewpoint.”

Mr McCartney said the policy, as announced by immigration minister Fred Mitchell, of not renewing or issuing work permits for certain job categories, would impact all levels of the private sector - from major international investors to small Bahamian-owned businesses and individuals.

The Government is aiming to stop issuing work permits for jobs such as live-in maids and housekeepers, plus handymen, gardeners and labourers, and gemologists, within a year. It is also hoping to prepare Bahamians to take over these positions via its soon-to-be launched National Training Agency.

Suggesting that the Government’s best intentions would soon confront reality, Mr McCartney told Tribune Business: “I hear the Minister saying: ‘Put Bahamians first’ .

“That’s fine and dandy, but it’s a choice issue. Bahamians don’t want to do that stuff. We must be realistic. I’ve been there before Fred Mitchell. I’ve seen it longer than him.”

Tribune Business previously revealed how Mr McCartney and his wife identified four Bahamian candidates to be their live-in housekeeper, yet none of them appeared at the scheduled interview time.

“We’re still waiting today for them to come for that interview almost five years later,” he added, the problem having been further illustrated during a recent radio program he was on.

Mr McCartney said a woman caller to the show disclosed she had recently been laid-off from the hotel industry, and was prepared to do any job available. The DNA leader asked if she would be his live-in housekeeper, and she declined. When asked why, the caller replied that she needed to be at home to take care of her husband and children.

Mr McCartney added that this was a problem not just confined to the Bahamas, but illustrated the difficulties involved in finding live-in staff from among a local population, as they all had families to attend to.

Meanwhile, a former Bahamas Chamber of Commerce president told Tribune Business it would be a “recipe for disaster” if the Labour and Immigration Departments determined that they knew a business’s labour needs better than the company itself.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, president of the Superwash laundromat chain, pointed out that the hiring of an expatriate worker often led to the creation of more Bahamian jobs. If that expatriate worker was removed because a work permit was denied, and then inadequately replaced, he warned that the result could be a net loss of Bahamian jobs.

“I think we have to re-emphasise the position that many Bahamian jobs hang on the fact that a qualified expatriate worker fills a certain position,” Mr D’Aguilar said. “While we may feel that getting rid of the expatriate creates one Bahamian job, we may in fact be losing 10 Bahamian jobs if that expatriate is not adequately replaced.”

Alleging that the Labour and Immigration Departments were “unnecessarily withholding” approvals, he added: “I contend that there is no sector of our community that knows better what they need than the business community.

“How some bureaucrats at the Labour Department or Immigration Department know what fits best in our companies is a recipe for disaster.”

Suggesting that there were just 2,000 work permit holders, out of a 190,000-strong labour force, in key technical posts, Mr D’Aguilar added: “This is not a big problem. It is not worth disrupting our entire economy over.

“I’m not being melodramatic. I’m not blowing it out of proportion, as critics may say. This is the reality on the ground. Businesses are the engine of your economy. It is us, not the Government, that’s going to create the jobs. It’s us, not the Government, that’s going to expand our businesses, and it’s us, not the Government, who knows best who we need to manage our businesses and help our businesses.

“Government should embrace the business community, not fight the business community. Help us to do business. There are billions of dollars sitting in the bank, and what happened at Atlantis does not encourage the business community to unlock that money, start spending and create jobs.”