The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

The budget debate has now, mercifully, been concluded. The majority of the contributors, inclusive of several ministers, really had nothing of value to say and it is questionable whether or not so many members need to speak. The assorted cabinet ministers trumped their accomplishments over the last year, such as they were. Three ministers stood out: the Hon Minister of Tourism & Aviation; the Hon Minister of Social Development & Urban Renewal and, of course, the Hon Minister for the Public Service & National Insurance Board.

The Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Attorney General seem to be under performing and have, in fact, botched a number of salient issues and public policy initiatives. The Most Hon Prime Minister may well need to conduct a cabinet shuffle mid-way into this term in office. Why? In the case of the Ministry of Finance we have an ongoing and long established inability or unwillingness to collect on hundreds of millions of dollars for outstanding real estate taxes.

This is beyond understanding. You own property on which a building exists. That property attracts taxes as mandated by law. The collection of any outstanding arrears should not baffle anyone. All the Ministry of Finance needs do is get cabinet authorisation and place the collection of arrears in the hands of private but reputable outside agencies. Where necessary, property could be forfeited and auctioned off to recover the arrears. In addition, a dedicated branch of the Magistrates Court should be set up for legal enforcement purposes.

It is a natural disgrace that the Ministry of Finance cannot seem to get it right when it comes down to actually collecting on the massive sums which some of the established web houses are reputed to ‘owe’ the government. How is this possible? The government has the legal authority to withhold a gaming licence if the particular operator plays crazy when it comes down to collecting what has been mandated by law. This hand-wringing and shedding of fake tears is unacceptable.

The ease of doing business is still too cumbersome for tons of average Bahamians. What is needed, in my view, is a one stop shop operation where all of the relevant commercial arms of the administration are located in one complex and tied into each other via a dedicated computer system. As it is right now, the right hand does not, necessarily, know what the left one is doing. Inland Revenue is way down on Carmichael Road. The Public Treasury is on East Street. The Registrar General’s Offices are on Shirley Street with no direct access to public parking. Incorporation of companies require one to have either a credit or a debit card. 75% of potential Bahamians and wannabe entrepreneurs have neither.

The Office of the Attorney General appears to be in shambles and the judicial officers in most cases, are not known to be ‘legal eagles’ as they appear to lose more cases as opposed to winning. The evidence that is often marshalled by counsel is disjointed and irrelevant. Too often, I am informed, promotions of Bahamian counsel is ‘over looked’ to bring in foreign born advocates under terms and conditions which are often publicly unknown. As we approach 46 years of independence, it is a disgrace of epic proportions to witness our importation of foreign lawyers to prosecute Bahamians.

The Civil Division of the AG’s Office also seems to be ‘weak’ when it comes to civil litigation. There are cases in the system which have been ongoing for years if not decades in certain matters. A non profit or charitable organisation’s proposed incorporation has to be vetted by this office. The procedure takes forever and a day. It is time for this office to be deployed outside of the cabinet. It makes no sense to have an AG sitting in cabinet, with all of the perks, and be giving ‘independent’ advice to the government of the day.

Several other ministries are led by political knuckleheads. At this juncture, I will not name and shame any of them save and except for the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry of Transport & Local Government also needs to pull up its boot straps and low hanging pants.

This budget is a bits and pieces budget and does very little to advance the economic viability of the country. What Minnis and crew really should be doing, post haste, is to focus on the proposed Ports here in New Providence and Freeport; encourage and facilitate the sale and redevelopment of South Ocean; get the Eleuthera Disney Project out of the discussion stage and start pouring concrete into the ground; the urgent redevelopment of Potter’s & Arawak Cays is critical; old and abandoned governmental buildings here in New Providence either need to be demolished and new purpose designed buildings be constructed, the dilapidated Post Office; the Rodney Bain and Clarence A Bain buildings come readily to mind.

The former Phil’s Food Service Building on Gladstone Road is yet another asset in our Crown Jewels that successive administrations have allowed to languish while paying exorbitant rents to cronies and political hacks. Wastage of governmental funds and taxpayers monies have now reached unacceptable levels. This budget, which does nothing, in my view, to enhance budgetary and fiscal matters is one of smoke screens and mirrors. What has been presented is merely voodoo economics 2.0.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) does its best to counteract the bogus proposals put forward by the administration but did not spell out, precisely, what it will do once it is returned to high office. It is a given that when one is in opposition that he/she might not be able to influence public policy initiatives, directly, but at the very least put forward credible and affordable alternatives. One should not oppose merely for the political purpose of opposing. To God then, in all of these mundane things, be the glory.

ORTLAND BODIE Jr

Nassau

June 27, 2019