The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Wayne Munroe yesterday pushed back against calls for swift campaign finance reform, saying the administration must first determine what Bahamians want from such legislation and whether proposed restrictions would withstand constitutional scrutiny.

He questioned whether the public wants limits on individual political donations, greater transparency over the identity of donors, or equal spending limits supported by government funding.

His comments came after CARICOM election observers renewed calls for political parties to disclose their funding sources, limits to be placed on campaign spending and effective penalties established for vote buying and misuse of state resources.

The recommendations are contained in CARICOM’s final report on the May 12 general election, which also called for the Parliamentary Registration Department to be converted into an independent election management body.

Campaign finance reform has repeatedly been promised by the major political parties but never implemented. The Davis administration had said campaign finance reform was not a priority during its first term.

Mr Munroe said that after becoming attorney general, he asked what consultations had been carried out and whether anyone had first determined what type of campaign finance regime Bahamians wanted.

“You just don't come and say ‘let's grab some campaign finance laws’,” Mr Munroe said. “So if I grab the part from the US and say we're limiting how much you can give the political party and well, oh goodness, this isn't constitutional and what is it that Bahamian people want with regard campaign finance?”

Referring to greater transparency over the identity of donors, individual political donations and equal spending limits, he said: “All of those are different things you can say. Whatever it is you come up with, the people in law reform and revision, they have to look at it and say, is this constitutional? If it is, yes, then we can structure this.”

Asked whether he would support foreigners being allowed to donate to political parties, Mr Munroe said the issue would also have to be examined against the Constitution.

“The question would be: Is there any discrimination between foreign and domestic?” he said. “The US Constitution may have discrimination between foreign and domestic and all of that, the drafters would look into when they determine whether we can do this in the Parliament with our constitution as it is.”

“If the answer is no,” Mr Munroe said, “then of course…you could do a constitutional referendum and be able to pass the law.”

CARICOM also recorded stakeholders’ allegations of vote buying and recommended effective penalties for vote buying and the misuse of state resources.

Mr Munroe disputed any suggestion that the country lacks penalties for vote buying, saying existing law already covers offences including treating.

“There is a real penalty called jail,” he said, “and you're disqualified from being a member of parliament, and you disqualified from running. That's the law now but they seem to say that there is no law.”

CARICOM also recorded concerns surrounding the voters’ register and advanced polling, which some stakeholders viewed as deliberate efforts to influence the election in favour of the incumbent.

The observer mission recommended converting the Parliamentary Registration Department into an independent election management body with legal and operational safeguards against political influence.

Mr Munroe questioned whether such a recommendation should rest on stakeholder perceptions rather than identified deficiencies.

“I have to go and read this report now,” he said, “because it doesn't sound as if they actually actually looked at primary facts. It seems as if they talked to stakeholders and said the stakeholders formed this view, so you should do this in response to it.”

Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson, however, welcomed the recommendation for greater independence, saying the issue has already been under consideration.

Mr Thompson told The Tribune that the department has been considering a proposed Electoral Commission bill since 2024 that would make it fully independent and said he hoped the process would be finalised.

He said the department already operates with some degree of independence, but the proposed legislation could address concerns about possible undue political influence.

“We have no difficulty with an independent parliamentary registration department,” Mr Thompson said. “We support that.”