The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

“The overarching purpose of access to information legislation … is to facilitate democracy. It does so in two related ways. It helps to ensure first, that citizens have the information required to participate meaningfully in the democratic process, and secondly, that politicians and bureaucrats remain accountable to the citizenry.” – Gerard LaForest, former Supreme Court of Canada Justice, in Dagg vs Canada (1997).

Are we living under a pseudo-democracy?

After 40 + years of “self” governance, the socio-economic success of the Bahamas is being suppressed by a culture of poor business etiquette, incompetence in the administration of physical planning and social systems, lack of equity in our justice systems and an “overriding” acceptance of cronyism and corruption as the status quo. Transparency and accountability exist as dying tenets of our democracy.

The recent actions by the Government, Sarkis Izmirlian and the CEXIM Bank are another, yet very expensive, but teachable moment for the country. The larger issue, however, is the erosion of our once proud western democracy.

While researching material for an unrelated topic, I found myself reading an article by Fareed Zakaria, called “The Rise of Illiberal Democracy. This article was first posted on his personal blog in 1997. In his article, Mr. Zakaria concluded, “the problems of governance in the 21st century will likely be problems within democracy”.

Years later, as forecasted by Mr. Zakaria, we have begun to see the global erosion of civil liberties, most notedly within the western champion of democracy the United States of America, with the introduction of ‘The Patriot Act’. The Government of the Bahamas has followed suit to a lesser extent; deciding to ignore the will of the Bahamian people ascertained from a nationally funded poll, a spy agency without oversight or legislation, openly showing contempt for the press; Attorney General’s former client receiving a nolle prosequi; no charges for V Alfred Grey after he admitted to interfering with a criminal case (reference penal code 441) and numerous acts that are borderline unconstitutional. Why then should we expect openness/transparency regarding the potential multi-billion dollar failure, which is Baha Mar.

The other “Too Big to Fail” mega resort, Atlantis also saw itself battling possible bankruptcy against its lenders with no intervention from our government. The Atlantis and Baha Mar problems may be comparing a tangerine with a grapefruit, but after learning these details about Atlantis, I and many other Bahamians are questioning the government’s involvement with Sarkis Izmirlian and the Baha Mar deal.

The devil is in the details, details (although the Bahamian people have invested considerable tracks of land and concessions), the Bahamian people will never know. All Bahamians should question this government’s quick “sovereignty” pronouncement regarding a decision by another Delaware bankruptcy court (cutting Baha Mar from its contingency funds).

Where’s the concern for sovereignty when Bahamian citizens are repeatedly extradited to the United States to face criminal charges on crimes committed locally?

Where’s the concern for sovereignty with regards to our air space or when we submit to signing onto multilateral agreements that open our borders to multinational corporations to destroy local business because of economies of scale?

Where is the concern for sovereignty when our legal framework is dictated to us (banking and crime) and legal decisions that define our culture and way of life are interpreted 2000 miles away?

Where is the concern for sovereignty when fundamentals tenets of sovereignty like energy security and food security are paid lip service by successive governments with little effort to make them realities? Every Bahamian should question the government’s involvement with Baha Mar, considering the last Christie Administration gave Atlantis approval to use Bahamian properties as collateral for overseas projects.

Can we expect transparency and accountability from our elected representatives without a Freedom of Information Act? In Baha Mar’s June 29th, 2015, bankruptcy filing, the 34-page document mentions the Government of The Bahamas three times. Once when listing the government as a “lending partner”, again when mentioning “CCA’s repeated assurances” to the government regarding a completion date for the hotel and again as a lending partner.

So with Baha Mar being tight lipped about its dealings with the government and the government being the typical PLP government, what assurances do we have as Bahamians that the Baha Mar resort will not become an albatross.

Will it become another abandoned building like the unfinished hotel on the Defence Force Base or another Ginn or I Group. That may be a far-fetched comparison, however uncertainty and lack of information breeds speculations.

Even more curious is the Attorney General filing liquidation proceedings against Baha Mar, even while negotiations were ongoing inside China between the developers and the Bank.

While the tit-for-tat public battle between PM Christie and Sarkis Izmirlian enters the fifth round, one can only wonder how this love hate relationship developed. Familiarity breeds contempt. Was it not Perry Christie who introduced Izmirlian and Baha Mar to the Bahamian people; adding to his list of anchor project announcements.

The only ones left hurting during messy divorces are the children. Bahamians are feeling the aftermath of a messy divorce between the developer and the Christie Administration. We are left to feel the pain of these back door deals/agreements gone wrong, so sensational the Prime Minister seems afraid to make public. What is in the agreement between the government and Baha Mar; is there honour left inside the House of Assembly? Are we too accepting of mediocrity, too passive and afraid to demand more from our government?

UNESCO in their 2010 publication about Freedom of Information suggested, “One of the most effective ways of addressing poor governance is through open, informed debate. Although the right to information is not a substitute for good governance, it both supports and aids its implementation.”

As related to the FOIA, on the 10th of January, 2008 the Bahamas signed onto the United Nations Convention against Corruption, yet does not consider itself bound by the provisions of Article 66, paragraph 2 of the Convention. Article 66 paragraph 2 suggests the Bahamas can be taken to the International Court of Justice, if we delay court matters/disputes between The Bahamas and another country.

Considering our sluggish justice system, I understand the country’s apprehension to this paragraph. However, the greater problem for the justice system within the country is the perception of public policy decisions being decided by non-elected bodies (special interest groups) and the lack of Judicial Independence.

Examples are the illegal numbers racket seemingly operating with impunity, then celebrating the overturned referendum and having the Attorney General argue on their behalf in front of the financial action task force. And Baha Mar executives may have concerns that a former law partner of the DPM is presiding over their case. Other examples are the Attorney General being reluctant to prosecute individuals (Mayaguana incident) and a minister resigning after tabling laws that benefit the company he currently works for.

Which bring us to the question related to code of ethics for parliamentarians? Are laws being passed for and on behalf of the Bahamian people or shall we see another fashion designer celebrate his stem cell research bill.

Members of parliament are there to represent the people who elected them and not the persons or groups who funded their campaign. Integrity is severely lacking.

If the government wants to be open and provide good governance, it can start with an autonomous Attorney General, a National Procurement Agency, Freedom of Information with strengthened whistle blower legislation and a Code of Ethics for elected officials – parliamentarians, senators and Cabinet Ministers. We may not see immediate results with these improvements, but holding politicians accountable reaffirms our status as a thriving democracy and it will no longer be an illusion when we say we have a government that believes in Bahamians.

KRISTOPHER GRAY

President,

DNA Men’s Alliance,

July 22, 2015.