The Tribune

• Bahamas can ‘control own destiny’ with change

• But ‘can’t squeeze out’ reform in corruption fight

• Report: Ending graft vital to ‘trust’ in Government

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas “cannot squeeze out” civil service reform if it wishes to tackle “the vexing problem” of perceived corruption in accessing public services, governance reformers warned yesterday.

Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas does not have to follow Jamaica and Barbados’ in “hitting rock bottom” before it enacts meaningful reforms to the public service, fiscal management and other key aspects of government.

He spoke as ORG released a report, produced for it by Dr Yvette Pintard-Newry, that sets out a potential road map for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of The Bahamas’ public sector and its role in advancing the ease of doing business and quality of life for all citizens and residents.

The report, recommending that The Bahamas start by reviewing the Public Service Bill 2010 and using it as the foundation for a new Public Service Act, said it was vital that The Bahamas address real and perceived corruption within the sector if Bahamians were to regain “trust” in the Government.

Dr Pintard-Newry also suggested that The Bahamas’ present fiscal crisis, and the drive for austerity, had created something of a paradox for public service reform. While the Government was directing increasing resources to front-line public services, such as national security, health, education and social services, it was also allocating less to develop the public service even though its employees are vital to arresting and turning around The Bahamas’ fiscal decline.

“Dedicated resources (human, technical and financial) are also essential to public sector reform,” she wrote. “The importance of improved fiscal management and debt reduction so that the Government can invest in and support public sector reform is critical as the pressing priorities of the Government in health, education, national security, infrastructure and the economy overshadow the need for reform.

“Funding from revenue is channelled into addressing those obvious national needs. Interestingly, public sector reform is vital to the acquisition and management of all resources, so without it meaningful fiscal management is unlikely and some level of national borrowing will continue.”

Despite The Bahamas faring relatively well in the World Bank’s Perception of Corruption Index between 2018 and 2021, Dr Pintard-Newry also warned that the country needs to make further progress in weeding out graft. “It is most important for public sector reform to address this vexing problem in order to increase transparency, accountability and trust in Government,” she added.

Calling for the role of civil servants to be better defined, the report suggested that public sector reform be anchored in an overall strategy such as the National Development Plan to ensure that it aligns with national objectives with progress measured against performance indicators and benchmarks.

Dr Pintard-Newry gave two options for managing reform - the creation of an agency or ministry headed by a permanent secretary, such as Barbados’ Office of Public Reform, or an initiative that is run out of the Prime Minister’s Office by the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and is accountable to the Cabinet secretary.

To hold senior civil servants accountable for their actions under the first model, she also advocated the creation of a committee of permanent secretaries. “Each permanent secretary would be mandated to have a strategy for his ministry and an annual implementation plan,” Dr Pintard-Newry suggested. 

“The Public Service Bill 2010, sections seven, eight, and nine, provide for the establishment of a Permanent Secretaries Committee. If the functions of the committee are expanded, permanent secretaries would have to defend their performance on an annual basis. Progress could, therefore, be effectively monitored and evaluated. Of course, there would have to be incentives and consequences for progress or the lack thereof.”

Suggesting that The Bahamas undertake a wide-ranging review of how government business is conducted and implemented, the report added: “While significant progress has been made...  in The Bahamas via the digitisation of government services project, there is a long way to go with the services for ease of doing business, cyber security and the adoption/passage of legislation.

“Additionally, ministries and departments must modernise and adopt effective information management processes within the agency itself.” While both major Bahamian political parties have frequently advocated for public service reform, and pledged to deliver it in their respective manifestos, neither has implemented a comprehensive plan for achieving this.

Mr Aubry yesterday said the report’s release links well with ORG’s anti-corruption symposium last Friday because the “review and reform of the public sector to be more efficient and effective” was directly tied to efforts to fight graft. He described the road map and goals set out by Dr Pintard-Newry as “very actionable; they’re not aspirational”, and said public sector reform is a “moving target” rather than one with a clearly-defined end goal and timeline.

“Particularly in The Bahamas, we see the public sector as one of the most significant employer groups,” the ORG chief told Tribune Business. “We’re putting a lot of money into a system that serves our interests, so we need a system in place to make sure we’re getting the best return for our investment. There are some key opportunities that, if we can take advantage and move in a meritorious way, we can benefit.

“If we can take the opportunity to invest and appropriately organise our public service, it gives us a great opportunity to address climate change, ensure the level of taxation and revenue management is sufficient, access to government services becomes more smooth and responsive, and we reduce the potential for cheating. It’s an opportunity to reduce corruption and wastage from people trying to get around the system.

“There are great opportunities if we deploy this to a whole government approach with best practices. There’s potential for even further reforms in an environment that looks to support it.” Mr Aubry, though, argued that public sector reform will not work in The Bahamas if the effort is starved of resources.

“The effectiveness of the public service is not something we can squeeze out,” he said. “It’s going to require time, attention and resource allocation at a time of fiscal austerity..... Everything that ORG advocates for is on The Bahamas being able to create more positive and sustainable long-term outcomes.

“Unfortunately we have other countries in the region that had to hit bottom before they made reforms. Jamaica and Barbados have to go a very hard road to come back from that. We have a real opportunity with the talent we have in our current scenario to control our own destiny and level the playing field. I don’t think it’s required for us to hit bottom before we invest in it.”