The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Tax Coalition’s co-chairs yesterday warned that fiscal constraints meant it was an inappropriate time to consider building a new Parliament, and said: “We’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

Robert Myers and Gowon Bowe, in separate interviews with Tribune Business, said the Government needed to prioritise “getting our fiscal house in order” rather than committing itself to further capital investments that were not necessary.

Responding to a Parliamentary select committee’s report, which recommended that the Government build a new House of Assembly complex before its term in office ends in 2017, Mr Myers said the main focus should instead be on slashing a $447 million fiscal deficit and $5.5 billion national debt.

“I think we need to get our ducks in a row before figuring out how to spend money we don’t have,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business.

“I’m not saying for minute that they [MPs} don’t deserve more pay, I think they do, but we need to get our house in order. Our house is not in order.”

Reviewing, and likely increasing, MPs’ salaries was also a recommendation of the select committee, but Mr Myers added that this should be far down the priority list when compared to “working ourselves out of the fiscal dilemma we’re in, and putting ourselves on the right track.

“Let’s make sure these things happen before we start down any path of greater expenditure,” he added.

“Recurrent expenditure has to happen and capital expenditure has to happen, but I don’t build a new office when I’ve got a loan and overdraft. Right now, the Bahamas has a huge loan and huge overdraft.”

With the Christie administration set to demand an increased level of fiscal austerity, in the form of new and increased taxes, from the Bahamian people within a matter of months, Mr Myers said the select committee’s construction and pay recommendations “wouldn’t be my choice of timing”.

“We need to be talking about cutting recurrent and capital expenditure, and how we eliminate the deficit, not just shrink it,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business.

“That and things like the National Health Insurance scheme and [mandatory] pension schemes, all these things are secondary to getting our fiscal house in order.

“These things are great to talk about, but not until we get the debt on track and on the right side of the balance sheet. That’s where we need to be. We haven’t even figured out how to get out of the woods yet.”

Mr Myers’ fellow Coalition for Responsible Taxation co-chair, Mr Bowe, said he hoped that the select committee had focused on two separate aspects - whether a new Parliament building was required from an infrastructure perspective, and if a solid business case could be made for it.

Conceding that the House of Assembly might need a new home, Mr Bowe questioned whether the committee had assessed how construction would be financed, whether this was “the appropriate time” to start such a project, and if it was an “economically feasible venture”.

“I am not against capital expenditure, but it has to be aligned with an economic plan,” he told Tribune Business.

Suggesting that the Government could generate income from tours/visitors to the new, and existing, House of Assembly building, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accountant questioned whether such revenue streams had been factored into a “sustainable” business plan by the committee.

He also suggested that the current House of Assembly property could be used as a home for the National Art Gallery, or treated as an historic site by the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation (AMMC). All potential revenue streams.

Calling on the Government to be “wise” and ensure such capital projects could be funded, Mr Bowe agreed that now was not the right time to proceed with construction of a new House of Assembly.

“We have larger fish to fry,” he told Tribune Business. “We need to focus, to prioritise on what needs are pressing, as opposed to ‘what would be nice to have’.”

Mr Bowe said staffing and purchasing equipment for the Princess Margaret Hospital’s Critical Care Block, other large infrastructure projects and subsidies to the public corporations were all more pressing demands being made of the Government.

“There are too many pressing needs,” he told Tribune Business. “Before we start thinking about anything new, we should get the deficit under control.

“Like a household, the Government should only be making essential expenditures. We should not be looking to take on any major projects until we get our fiscal house in order, both the debt and the deficit.”