The Tribune

• Governance reformer: Transparency ‘lacks priority’

• Suggests growing ‘trend’ as with Procurement Act

• Opposition: Fiscal checks ‘systematically decimated’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Governance reformers yesterday voiced “alarm” that the uncertainty surrounding the Fiscal Responsibility Council highlights a growing “trend” where public accountability and transparency “lack priority” within government.

Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, told Tribune Business that the fiscal watchdog’s present ‘in limbo’ status is another example where the Davis administration appears to be “paying less attention” to building trust as opposed to focusing on other policy priorities.

Speaking after this newspaper revealed Council members are seeking clarity from Prime Minister Philip Davis KC as to whether their appointments are still valid, he also pointed to the “continued contravention” of both the initial and new Public Procurement Act due to the Government’s failure to publish details on contract awards within 60 days of their issuance.

“What I think alarms us about it is it’s yet another instance where we see a lack of clarity for the mechanisms of transparency and accountability, and the responsibility to give information to citizens,” Mr Aubry told this newspaper on the Council.

“When we look at that, it ultimately reinforces what we see as a trend - that there’s more and more instances of this lack of priority for government mechanisms.... What we’ve seen in the instance of the Freedom of Information Act, and maybe with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, is there is not the same level of attention to these issues when compared to the focus on others such as getting off blacklists and accessing more sources of revenue.

“These are just as critical, and maybe even more so, because when government enacts changes citizens can see whether they are aligned with their interests.” Tribune Business yesterday reached out to Latrae Rahming, the Prime Minister’s communications director, to seek government comment and inquire what it was doing to address Fiscal Responsibility Council member concerns as to whether their appointments are still valid.

This newspaper also asked the Government to address concerns that the Council is perceived to be less independent from government following enactment of the Public Finance Management Act 2023, which switched responsibility for its members’ appointment from the House of Assembly speaker to the minister of finance (now Mr Davis) - the very person whose ministry, and fiscal strategies, plans and actions, they are supposed to be scrutinising.

Mr Rahming acknowledged receiving Tribune Business’ questions and message, but no reply was received before press time last night. Gowon Bowe, the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) representative on the Fiscal Responsibility Council (FRC), explained he and his colleagues need confirmation if they remain members until their original appointments expire or if they are considered “terminated” due to the new Act coming into effect.

Given that the Council plays a critical role in The Bahamas’ enhanced fiscal transparency and accountability regime, he added that it was “in the best interests of the Government” and the nation to reassure the likes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) that there is no intention of “watering down” this framework.

The five-member Council plays a critical role since it is charged with examining whether the Government’s annual Budget, Fiscal Strategy Report and other measures align with set fiscal responsibility targets and principles. To-date, though, it has released just two assessments - on the 2020 Fiscal Strategy Report and the 2021-2022 Budget.

Mr Aubry yesterday said the Government’s decision to merge the Fiscal Responsibility Act into the Public Finance Management Act, consolidating both laws into one, has made the Council’s role “more important” because it has “reduced the opportunities for the public to learn and understand the fiscal strategy and financial position of the Government.

“It requires a more robust reporting schedule, and the importance of the Fiscal Responsibility Council achieving their mandate is critical,” he added. “We’ve seen even when the Fiscal Responsibility Act was in effect there was still not a frequent level of reporting, and a lack of clarity on when the Council would bring information forward or access the resources and funds to do their job appropriately.”

Asserting that this mechanism was a key component in building greater trust in government among Bahamians, Mr Aubry added: “If there’s less reporting and the mechanism is not in place, your fiscal responsibility is disengaged and not as robust. It affects your credit rating, which affects your borrowing costs, it affects local and international confidence in the fiscal strategy and position of The Bahamas.

“Given the clear focus on trying to drive new sources of revenue, you’d want that to be published, scrutinised and reflective of feedback and analysis by the experts on the Council. There’s a lot of benefit from having this mechanism, which does not have a long history, working.”

Mr Aubry said ORG holds similar concerns over “the continued contravention of the Public Procurement Act because there’s no public disclosure of which contracts have been awarded”. While the Government’s procurement website is “modern and accessible”, and provides a list of the different tenders and contracts out to bid, together with the identities of some winning bidders, he urged that “the back end” be enhanced to comply with the law.

This requires that the name of the winning bidder, the contract value and “what is expected of them” be published within 60 days of award but this has never been fully complied with since the first Act took effect on September 1, 2021, during the final days of the Minnis administration.

Mr Aubry said the Act’s purpose was to ensure government contracts are awarded fairly, rather than on the basis of patronage, political and family connections or some other arbitrary influences. If it worked, small Bahamian businesses would be encouraged to bid and, if they succeeded, they will grow themselves and the economy.

The Opposition, meanwhile, were quick to jump on what they termed the Government’s “inaction” over the Fiscal Responsibility Council. Kwasi Thompson, the Free National Movement’s (FNM) finance spokesman, accused the Government of “systematically decimating” transparency and accountability checks and balances that the former Minnis administration established.

“It was just wrong to move the jurisdiction of the Council from the Speaker to the minister of finance,” Mr Thompson said. “The Council members are correct; it is like the fox watching the hen house. It was wrong to move the funding from the Parliament to the Ministry of Finance. It was wrong to move the appointment of the Council from the Speaker to the minister of finance.

“The Davis administration has systematically decimated the accountability controls, particularly with respect to the Fiscal Responsibility Council.” Mr Thompson argued that the Government has yet to justify the changes to the Fiscal Responsibility Council, and added: “It is the people who suffer the most from not having the necessary reports of the Council, and the Government seems happy to simply ignore this important accountability control system.”