The Tribune

FOLLOWING fresh revelations of missing funds from a government department, Legal Affairs Minister Damien Gomez has been urged to honour his pledge to fight official corruption.

Joseph Darville, chairman of social and environmental advocacy group Save The Bays (STB), said that, in March, Mr Gomez told a high level meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS) that The Bahamas would establish an anti-corruption taskforce in accordance with its international obligations.

“The revelation of more than half a million dollars missing from the Road Traffic Department is but the most recent in a long line of scandals to emerge on the watch of his government,” Mr Darville said. “Yet as the final year of its term approaches, the minister’s pledge remains glaringly unfulfilled. For example, the police are also investigating the disappearance of $25,000 from the Freeport Passport Office, while the Public Accounts Committee continues to probe the expenditure of $3m on small home repairs that in many cases were not completed or even begun.

“We have yet to hear a full account of the $600m Letter of Intent signed without Cabinet approval and the audit showing $10m in pharmaceutical inventory missing from the Public Hospitals Authority has yet to be adequately explained. Some Members of Parliament continue to fail to disclose their assets in defiance of the law and there is even money missing from the College of The Bahamas.”

Mr Darville noted that as a signatory to both the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (IACAC) and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), The Bahamas is obliged to create effective and independent instruments to prevent corruption, criminalise certain forms of corruption and co-operate with other countries in international bribery and illicit enrichment investigations.

He pointed out that eight months have passed since Mr Gomez made his pledge to a committee of experts at the IACAC, yet no taskforce has been appointed and as far as the public is aware, no other steps have been taken to curb official malfeasance. “At the meeting, Gomez paid tremendous lip service to the idea of official accountability,” Mr Darville said. “Sadly, as is increasingly the case with this government, his pretty words were not followed up with any kind of meaningful action.

“Meanwhile, the other key pillar of good governance - official transparency - has been likewise woefully neglected and we continue to await a Freedom of Information Act despite this government’s repeated promises to implement one more than three years ago.”

“This means heads of agreements for major developments continue to be signed in secret, details of the use of the people’s own Crown Land are still kept from us and countless other critical decisions are being made in our name, behind our collective backs.

“I call on Minister Gomez and his Cabinet colleagues to stand by their word and take immediate and decisive steps to create a culture of official transparency and accountability in this country. They can only fool the world with pretty words for so long; the chickens will soon come home to roost, to the severe detriment of our international reputation. And it will be the Bahamian people, and not Gomez and his colleagues, who will end up suffering as a result,” Mr Darville said.