The Tribune

By Malcolm Strachan

IN the middle of swirling questions about the government’s handling of the Christmas Carnival fiasco, what does the current administration do? Make accusations about the former administration, of course.

Press secretary Clint Watson took to his podium on Friday to announce the government is going to terminate all current contracts issued by the Beaches and Park Authority.

He said an audit had found numerous problems and irregularities.

Now this may well be true, but it has the air of a distraction from questions about the carnival mess.

Worse, it also perhaps even reinforces some of the problems when it comes to the ease of doing business in this country.

Every single contract with the authority is going to be terminated – all of them, whether it’s waste collection, land clearance, perhaps even cleaning offices or operating security. Imagine being a contractor and being unsure if your contract is going to be held up on the government side.

Some of those contractors will have had expenses for equipment or hiring of staff, and suddenly they’re told the contract is cancelled.

One of the complaints, says Mr Watson, is that there is no information being held by the government that meets the “Know Your Customer” requirements, and every contractor will now have to come in person to a venue yet to be announced to prove their identity with a passport or some other form of ID and confirm their bank details and tax and NIB compliance.

We presume some of those contractors will be major businesses – and have our doubts whether the government really lacks information on those.

The ones this will hit will be the independent contractor – the small operators who can afford the loss the least. All this the week before Christmas.

And why do these businesses have to provide this information now anyway? If these contracts are being cancelled, why do they have to provide information relating to a contract that is no longer there? The contract process should begin again now, with the contracts the government wishes to proceed with being opened to tender and the “Know Your Customer” information being provided for the new contract. So are the old contracts really being cancelled? Or is this a lot of noise designed to distract from something else?

Having everyone show up at one location on a specific date is making people jump through hoops for the sake of the government – why can’t they call by government offices with the information at a time that suits them over a set time period? Or simply make appointments with the contractors to bring in their information and sort it out?

It seems far more likely that the government has misplaced this information than it having never been available from every single contractor taken on, so why punish them?

Another thing – why is this being thrown down with all the sound and thunder of the press secretary’s office rather than being tabled in Parliament by Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis.

If it was tabled in Parliament, there would be a right for the Opposition to respond and to question the Prime Minister on the action.

Let there be no misunderstanding over this – if there were improper procedures by the past administration, they should absolutely be called to account. We want a properly functioning government that abides by the rules and regulations that it sets.

However, this feels like a distraction. This feels like the government is trying to change the conversation from its own problems with the carnival saga, about which there remain many questions.

We still need to know the extent of the PLP’s involvement with the carnival itself, why it handled applications for approval, and how those applications were handled. We would like to see what was approved in terms of work permits and Customs allowances – and that’s all before we get to the reasoning for the refusal of the carnival on health grounds and why the National Security Minister was minded to query whether an event being rejected by his colleagues in the Ministry of Health even needed that approval in the first place.

Instead of answering those questions, instead we have this new matter brought to the podium and announced by the press secretary – not the Prime Minister or even the substantive minister whose department it is.

Is it a distraction? Well, it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck…

It is absolutely right for the government to be held to account for over-spending, for incorrect procedures and for processes that have not been conducted correctly.

Mr Watson said the Beaches and Parks Authority report was “so jaw-dropping that we decided to immediately release the full report, so that the Bahamian people can see for themselves how their money has been spent”.

That desire for transparency is excellent – and we hope the same zeal for clarity is brought to the handling of the carnival.

If this matter is indeed so important, it cannot be seen to be used as a distraction from something else – and the way to do that is to be thoroughly transparent about the other matter as well.

Be absolutely clear and resolve the other matter, then we’ll know this one isn’t being used as an opportunity to change the conversation.

That way, we’ll know they mean business.