The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Governance reformers yesterday renewed calls for The Bahamas to “accelerate” the full enactment of transparency-related laws and “get them over the line” amid fresh contract controversy.

Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, told Tribune Business that the protracted time taken to fully implement the Public Procurement Act and other disclosure-related laws means many government bidding processes remain opaque and this is adding “fuel to the fire” even if nothing is amiss with the outcome.

Asserting that “perception is the most destructive thing”, he added that failing to follow established contract award processes and laws meant to ensure transparency and accountability leaves all decisions “at risk” of being challenged by speculation and “political rhetoric”.

Mr Aubry spoke after the Water & Sewerage Corporation last week became embroiled in fresh contract controversy following the first day of testimony in the trial of former executive chairman, Adrian Gibson, and his co-defendants. It emerged that the Corporation had given a contract to the daughter of his successor, Sylvanus Petty, the North Eleuthera MP and deputy speaker of the House of Assembly.

The award was revealed when Mr Petty’s was cross-examined by Mr Gibson’s attorney, Damian Gomez KC. The current Water & Sewerage Corporation chairman also said he did not frown upon nepotism, meaning favoritism based on kinship and the awarding of public sector contracts to family members, or granting awards to political supporters and cronies so long as they are qualified and capable to do the work.

Mr Petty said he also did not discourage the Water & Sewerage Corporation from awarding contracts to persons known to its Board members because “everyone in The Bahamas was family”, although he added that he tried not to get too closely involved with the utility’s tendering processes.

When asked if he ever voted on a contract that a family member had an interest in, Mr Petty denied doing so. But, when asked about his daughter’s contract with the Corporation, he said it never came before the Board because it was “a small contract” worth less than $50,000.

Mr Gomez suggested the total value of his daughter’s contract was around $26,000, but Mr Petty could not confirm this, saying it never came to his desk. Several sources yesterday suggested to Tribune Business that the details revealed in court, if accurate, would place the Water & Sewerage Corporation in breach of both the current Public Procurement Act and its earlier version.

The latter, which took effect on September 1, 2021, prior to Mr Petty and the Davis administration taking office, required that government business entities and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as the Water & Sewerage Corporation”publish a notice of the award of the procurement contract for all goods, works and services valued over $25,000” on their websites and the Government’s electronic procurement system within 60 days.

This was retained in the new Act, passed earlier this year, but the contract awarded to Mr Petty’s daughter - and, indeed, all Water & Sewerage Corporation contract awards - was never published in accordance with this legal requirement. The Corporation also appears not to have published its procurement guidelines on its website, which is also required by the Act.

Most state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have yet to use the Government’s Bonfire electronic procurement system and are still using their own established processes. Mr Aubry yesterday, acknowledging that family relationship connections crop up frequently in small, close knit societies such as The Bahamas and rest of the Caribbean, said there may be nothing wrong with such contract awards but it is impossible to know.

“We’re seeing a number of these circumstances coming up where nobody knows the particulars of these cases,” Mr Aubry said, adding that it further reinforces the importance of fully enacting laws such as the Freedom of Information Act, Public Procurement Act. It also, he added, highlights the need to consistently enforce the provisions of these and other pro-disclosure and anti-corruption legislation.

“They are important. They are the citizens’ best way to distinguish decisions being made in then best possible way,” he added. “This issue of being related is a very, very common issue. But it doesn’t necessarily mean them getting a contract is a bad thing. That’s why ORG is calling for transparency and accountability because we know these are potential issues.

“If we have the Public Procurement Act fully enacted, where you see the contracts coming up, are aware of the terms of the contract and see the results coming forward, we have greater assurance these decisions are being made in a clear and transparent manner.”

Agreeing that it was vital that all SOEs embrace the Public Procurement Act, Mr Aubry said: “When the public has the opportunity to see processes that are clear with transparent results, it becomes easier to manage through potential conflicts of interest and why decisions have been made.

“When there isn’t a level of transparency, and laws are not fully enacted already, it makes contract awards vulnerable and puts them at risk, whether it be through speculation or political rhetoric. When we see things that come out retroactively, it becomes fuel for the fire and it doesn’t really benefit us in any way.

“Using public disclosure and the available tools we have are the best opportunity to ensure the public concerns are not only met but, if there are questions, they can be responded to. What we see, unfortunately, is when folks see these things they feel they are only about relationships, patronage and political connections,” he added.

“It diminishes people’s level of trust in the system. But the system we have can be developed in a fairly robust way against these things. The opportunity is to change the system, and advance a system, where the risk of decisions made that are clearly not driven by the public interest can happen.”

Mr Aubry argued it is now critical to “accelerate efforts” to fully implement the Freedom of Information Act and Public Procurement Act, especially ensuring the latter applies to all SOEs and that contract awards are published within the required 60-day timeline.

“There are a lot of folks in government working hard to get these things in place. We need to get it over the line. It is a mechanism that can only benefit the country,” the ORG executive director argued. “Perception is the most destructive thing.

“We know that if this system gets in place there are so many more positive things that can come from it. That’s why we are always advocating for these things and will continue to advocate for them.”