The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A prominent QC has told a Bahamian digital payments provider that “it’s not about you” when it comes to concerns over the need for the COVID health travel visa and it acting as another tax on Bahamians.

Wayne Munroe QC, who is also the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) Freetown candidate in the upcoming general election, said the party’s concerns went much wider than just the selection of Kanoo to facilitate health travel visa fee payments into an account controlled by the Ministry of Tourism.

Nicholas Rees, Kanoo’s chairman, last week told this newspaper that the attacks on his company - after it was awarded several government-related contracts to provide payment facilitation services - were “inaccurate” and “laden with ulterior motives”.

He also warned that the episode highlighted why young Bahamian professionals do not return home, but Mr Munroe countered: “I don’t think they quite understand the main thrust of the matter. The main thrust of the matter has nothing to do with them. The main thrust of the matter is why impose a tax and cost on the people - that is free standing regardless of whether procurement is proper or not.

“These are young professionals, so they should be bright enough to know that they should expect to provide answers. These are young professionals. So when they come to the public, they should come with the information and not with some sort of hard luck story about this is why we don’t return home.

“If they were in the US, they know what would be happening now. If they were in Canada, they know what would be happening now, and if they were in Europe, they know what would be happening now. The Bahamian people expect no less.”

Referring to the health travel visa, Mr Munroe added: “The reality is this. Since they have come forward, can they tell us who awarded them the contract? Can they produce the contract, and can they produce audited numbers?

“Before questions were asked, the government’s position was that there was zero revenue from this. After questioning came about, then it was said that it was a small processing fee that Kanoo was collecting. Then was it was disclosed that $9.8m was collected [by the government], and with a $2.4m surplus, which means for costs and expenses that was $7.4m or 75 percent of the revenue.”

Mr Rees said all contracts awarded to Kanoo are “above board”, and that the company has nothing to hide. Rejecting claims of political favouritism, Mr Rees confirmed that besides Sand Dollar and the health travel visa, Kanoo has also won the contracts to facilitate the electronic processing of child support and other court-ordered payments, plus food assistance payments on behalf of the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development.

And the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) had engaged Kanoo to facilitate the payment of tuition and registration fees by Family Island-based students.

Tribune Business has obtained independent verification that many of the contracts awarded to Kanoo were put out to competitive bidding and tendering processes. Rivals, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that they, too, participated in the Supreme Court RFP as well as the Social Services vetting. The latter saw Kanoo awarded the food assistance payments, while Cash N’ Go and Omni now handle rental and uniform assistance.

Not all competitors were convinced, though. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one said: “Something doesn’t look right about the awarding of these contracts.” Another added: “Not all of them were put out to bid, and it appears that Kanoo always had the inside track.

“The excuse was used that ‘the government has been working with them’, which is not so because others have been working with government to fix lots of issues but we’re not given anything in return or invited to bid when the ‘meaty’ projects are on the line. The real issue here is that they have good friends in high places.”