The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Free National Movement’s (FNM) leader last night pledged to implement a Fiscal Responsibility Act is his party is elected to office in the upcoming election, and enhance transparency and accountability in governance.

Dr Hubert Minnis promised “the most aggressive anti-corruption changes ever made in our Bahamas”, using his New Year’s address to promise that the Auditor-General would be “unimpeded” when investigating fraud and wastage within the Government.

In a televised speech that contained many promises but not much detail, and focused on the ‘what’ rather than the ‘how’, Dr Minnis pledged that Bahamians could “take to the bank” his pledge to restore the Bahamas’ creditworthiness to investment grade.

“To reverse this downward trend, we will immediately stop the wasteful spending, stop the scandalous contracts, and weed out the corruption,” Dr Minnis said.

“To assist in this effort, your FNM Government will introduce a Fiscal Responsibility Act to hold your Government accountable for the money they collect from you.”

Many in the private sector and wider Bahamian society have called for such an Act as a means to boost fiscal transparency and accountability, especially given the concerns over how the Government is using its $1 billion-plus VAT ‘windfall’ over the last two years.

The Bahamas’ national debt has continued to increase to $6.778 billion, with annual deficits remaining in the $300 million-plus range despite the VAT monies, leading to calls for reduced government spending.

A Fiscal Responsibility Act is seen as a vital tool in this fight, especially as it would force the Government to return to Parliament if it needed to go beyond approved Budget figures, and explain the need for doing so.

While Dr Minnis’ speech contained nothing especially new or innovative, it touched upon many of the ‘hot button’ topics that are arousing passion and debate in Bahamian society.

He also implied that an FNM government under his leadership would chart a different course on healthcare reform to the Government’s proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) initiative, promising to end ‘cook outs’ by introducing a Catastrophic Health Insurance Plan to finance care for life-threatening diseases.

“Our focus will be on the substantial upgrade of the health infrastructure and delivery of services,” Dr Minnis said. “We will introduce a Catastrophic National Health Insurance Plan that will adequately address your chronic heart diseases, cancer and organ transplants, so as to relieve you of the worries that can devastate families both emotionally and financially.”

A Catastrophic Health Insurance Plan is an idea seemingly resuscitated and borrowed from the first Ingraham administration, which was starting to look at just such a scheme prior to being voted out of office in 2002.

Pointing to the Christie administration’s failing, the FNM leader promised to address land ownership woes and the “red tape” impacting Bahamians applying for Crown Land.

Implying that foreigners were receiving preferential treatment, Dr Minnis said: “We must find meaningful ways to empower our own people. For far too long, Bahamians have been placed at the back of the line.

“We cannot continue the past practice of laying out the red carpet for foreigners to own, and/or lease Crown Lands, while at the same time tying Bahamians up in the proverbial red tape. We will fix this problem.

“We pledge that immediately upon becoming the Government, we will begin the process of expediting all Crown Land applications. The vexing problems associated with generation and commonage lands will also be addressed.”

Dr Minnis pledged to “plot a course to reversing” the Baha Mar agreement if it was not in the Bahamian people’s best interests, and also repeated previous promises to focus on the creation of entrepreneurs and tackle the Bahamas’ energy costs through renewable alternatives.

He promised that an FNM administration would subsidise the cost of solar panels, so that Bahamians could invest in renewable energy and sell any surplus back to the Bahamas Power & Light grid.

“Bahamian companies offering services in the development, assembly, installation and maintenance of alternative renewable energy sources, including waste-to-energy, biodiesel, methane, LNG, wind and solar will be granted incentives and tax concessions,” Dr Minnis added.

“This will create a robust energy sector, reduce our dependence on fossil fuel, and help to maintain our pristine environment.”