The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamians cannot have it both ways over this nation’s economic model, a top private sector executive yesterday arguing that free market capitalism could not simultaneously co-exist with “socialist safety nets”.

Gowon Bowe, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chairman, told Tribune Business that society had to relinquish the long-standing belief that “the Government must protect society from business”.

Questioning whether the Government should be “the guiding light for everything” in the Bahamas, Mr Bowe implied that such widely-cherished beliefs manifested themselves in bodies such as the Price Control Commission.

Agreeing that the latest remarks from Commission chairman, E. J. Bowe, “certainly will” stoke further tensions between businesses and consumers in the post-Value Added Tax (VAT) environment, the BCCEC chairman said his concerns had changed little from what he voiced previously.

Responding to E. J. Bowe’s warnings that the Commission will now move to prosecute food retailers that do not keep records justifying ‘breadbasket’ item prices in every store, Gowon Bowe asked whether this expectation was realistic.

He said the Price Control Act should not negatively impact the cost or ease of doing business in the Bahamas, and also hit out at the media circus that seemed to accompany the Commission on its inspections.

Gowon Bowe said the starting point for assessing the Price Control Commission’s record-keeping demands was whether they were reasonable, and if it was easier to obtain the sought-after information from a retailer’s head office or warehouse.

“We should really be saying: Is that a reasonable expectation for a company or business that has multiple locations?’” Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business.

“We can’t have Price Control legislation that makes the cost of doing business go up. The legislation has to collaborate with business to achieve operating efficiencies.

“If you have more than one location, are you being told that every location must have the information, or is it more simple for Price Control to venture down to head office and get the supporting documents.”

He described E. J. Bowe’s comments as “sensationalist”, and argued that his “inciting-type words and statements” were not properly representing the outcome of Commission inspections.

And, while the Commission had every right to conduct investigations and publish its findings, Gowon Bowe added: “Is there a need to have the TV and media cameras behind it?

“They should not be making this a documentary or TV production. The role of the Price Commission is to protect the consumer, not create good TV.”

Emphasising that the Bahamas should focus on enabling businesses to operate more efficiently, the BCCEC chairman said this nation needed to establish pro-consumer websites that informed persons as to where the best prices and deals could be found.

“We need as a society to move away from the notion that government must protect society from business,” Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business.

“Consumers have a tremendous amount of power over where to shop... If I’m a business that wants to charge exorbitant prices, I’m running a big risk if there is elastic demand or the product is sold elsewhere.

“Do we need government as a guiding light for everything? We want to be a capitalist nation with socialist safety nets, and can’t have both.”