The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

FNM Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner yesterday expressed concern that the government will not meet its “important deadline” of tabling legislation to regulate the controversial National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

She also criticised the Ministry of National Security for not yet selecting a company to manage its electronic monitoring programme nearly a year after its contract with ICS Security Concepts expired.

Mrs Butler-Turner told The Tribune it is clear that the ministry either “has too many bosses or no boss at all.”

In May, the Long Island MP accused the government of using the agency to “spy” on Bahamians. However, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage dismissed the claims as “foolish”.

Dr Nottage has also said the legislation would be tabled and passed before the end of the year.

However, Mrs Butler Turner said with only a few months left in 2014, not one word of the NIA has been mentioned since that earlier pledge. She said this leads her to believe the government would rather operate the agency “outside the bounds of the law.”

“The reality is I am convinced that they have no clue what they are doing. We are winding down to the end of the year and nothing has happened yet. I assume they are going to just continue to operate outside the law,” she said.

“With regard to the NIA, the government seems to be very disorganised when it comes to their legislative agenda. They had so much heavy legislation bundled together at once that they could not have possibly added another. So the NIA is still functioning and we have no idea what (its) mandate is.

“The NIA is up and running, but crime is still going up, which means the agency must be used for something else. But the NIA is just one of the many shortfalls of the Ministry of National Security,” she added.

“In (November) 2013, the contract expired for the electronic monitoring bracelets (programme) and they extended the contract for a company both the minister and the minister of state called ‘incompetent’. To my knowledge there has been no mention of a new contact being issued. This clearly shows that they are operating without regard for any deadlines at all.”

Mrs Butler-Turner also said the ministry seems to have got to a point where it is operating under a “ball of confusion.”

“A few weeks ago, the prime minister said they had to go back to the drawing board when it comes to crime, then the national security minister said they do not have to go back to the drawing board, so who is in charge? Who is right? When you look at the ministry either they have too many bosses or no bosses at all. It seems like the whole system has reached a stage where it is compromised,” she said.

“The Defence Force has gotten three new vessels and we still have huge numbers of persons coming onto our shore illegally. We have a base in Inagua that is still non-functional,” she added. “The boat that is based there is on dry dock and these are just a few examples of this incompetent government. I won’t even mention the fact that we still have not gotten answers on the jail house wedding. It seems like this government cannot do what needs to be done.”

In May, FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis called on the government to shut the intelligence agency down because it was operating “outside the law.”

In June, Dr Nottage said the government would bring legislation to regulate the NIA “soon after” the 2014/2015 budget debate.