The Tribune

ON OCTOBER 14, one week after Hurricane Matthew cut a swath of devastation across the northwestern Bahamas, Prime Minister Perry Christie, acting in his capacity as Minister of Finance, signed an Exigency Order intended to make rebuilding homes, schools, businesses and lives less costly.

The Prime Minister had witnessed the destruction firsthand - the levelled buildings, flooding, the shaken demeanour and sad faces of the distraught and displaced people and his heart was in the right place.

But good intentions are just that. They are the equivalent of a beautiful, shiny car sitting in a garage unable to move because someone forgot gas.

To make anything run and run smoothly, whether legislation, policy or activity, it is all about execution.

The Exigency Order (or series of Customs duties exemptions for building materials) intended to bring relief has instead brought confusion, frustration and even anger.

Requirements are onerous. Demands are so complicated that not a single contractor we have spoken to understands fully how they work.

One roofing contractor admitted defeat in trying to make sense of how to take advantage of the refund on material already on the island and told the customer if they could possibly find out what to do the company would consider trying to make it work.

A homeowners’ association was ready to engage legal counsel to try to make sense of the convoluted multi-step process.

Here is one sentence from the order and this is among the simplest sections: “Customs duty and VAT exemption will be granted to registered charitable organisations, and individuals whose loss by Hurricane Matthew has been verified by NEMA.

“All other authorised donations will be deemed a gift to the government and will be received and distributed by NEMA.”

In another section applicable to businesses, the order states that businesses can apply to the Hurricane Relief Section of Customs.

Later, it notes that only businesses with a TIN number can apply, ruling out smaller ‘mom and pop’ shops that are not VAT registrants because they earn less than $100,000 a year but may need a boost right now, especially those in Andros and Grand Bahama.

Then if the applying business is granted the right to sell something minus the duty, they can only sell to a customer who has been independently qualified and to do that, the customer has to go to NEMA on Gladstone Road where there is one man on loan from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force assigned to review all claims.

There is also a very nice receptionist at the front desk who juggles calls and tries to direct people.

Impacted people who need approval are lined up against a wall in a small row of chairs.

Some have been there repeatedly. One elderly woman walking with a cane made two trips by foot after losing everything. The second day her sweater was on inside out. She was merely trying to get the form she was told she needed signed but there was, as we noted, one gentleman handling all requests.

Assuming that the woman finally got the form signed after presenting evidence she would then have to go to each business she wanted to buy from, find out if they had qualified from the Hurricane Relief department at Customs, and she would try to put together what she needed to give to a contractor or to buy.

Then the company she purchased it from would be required to submit a monthly report to the Department of Inland Revenue. Despite all the trouble, there have actually been some success stories.

But we fear that many of those most in need of rebuilding materials will simply give up because the process is so tiring and those who suffered are already tired.

The Exigency Order with its demands is one example of a good idea gone awry because of the lack of forethought as to what it would take to carry it out.

In the same week, we saw it happen at Road Traffic, when an automated system that was supposed to make it more convenient to renew a licence or register a vehicle turned into absolute chaos with people waiting for six or seven hours only to be told they had to go home and get a passport, even though they had the new NIB card which required a passport to get.

Bahamians are a very patient people. We do not need to be turned around in circles.

An idea is only as good as the well-conceived and finely-honed plans that allow it to be carried out in a realistic manner.

As for expecting citizens to dance in circles, reserve that for special occasions, rituals and ceremonies where circle dancing is a thing of joy.