The toleration of corruption is legend and deeply embedded in the PLP's culture. So too is a general lack of transparency and accountability on all manner of decisions when the party is in office, such as various major heads of agreement which Prime Minister Perry Christie failed to table in the House of Assembly during his first term in office.
On numerous occasions, Christie has waxed on the need for party and campaign finance legislation, then, as usual, waned in his commitment to doing anything.
This is the same prime minister who promised an accounting on the many millions allegedly given to the PLP by Mohammed Harajchi and Peter Nygard, an accounting which never came. This is par for the course in the PLP.
The corruption of the Pindling era was corrosive, especially during the drug scourge of the late 1970s and the 1980s, resulting in countless lives destroyed by fast money and crack cocaine. It was as if the country sealed a pack with the devil; a scourge from which we have yet to recover.
The corruption was not only financial in nature. The 1987 general election was widely believed to be one of the more corrupt and irregular in an independent Bahamas, with a new register never prepared and a range of strategies employed for the PLP to hold on to power at almost any cost. Many believe that the election was stolen.
In 2007 the Christie administration became the first one-term government since independence, a loss due to Christie's lacklustre performance and incompetence, and a procession of scandals and questions of corruption.
The recent report by the U.S. State Department on the bidding and procurement of contracts under the current PLP government is not surprising. The surprise is why it took so long for these questions to come to light in such a report.
The report noted "undue government interference" in the bidding and procurement process, noting that the process is "particularly problematic", and pressed further than earlier reports that "there has not been a sustained effort to ensure that opportunities for abuse of the system are minimized". Though couched in relatively diplomatic language, the meaning could not be clearer.
Impropriety
This journal reported: "Diverging from positions taken in earlier Investment Climate Reports, the document states that the U.S. government has received a number of reports on impropriety in recent times surrounding the issuance of contracts by the government."
The story continued: "'Over the last year, the embassy (in Nassau) has received several complaints from U.S. companies alleging a lack of transparency and undue government interference with bidding and procurement processes'."
Which companies made the complaint and about which projects? Were the complaints made of any Cabinet ministers or senior PLP operatives? How high up might any alleged corruption go? Are we on the verge of another orgy of revelations of scandals and corruption in the PLP, this time even worse than the previous Christie administration?
The decision by the State Department to make these observations in the Investment Climate Report is serious for a complex of reasons. Reports of possible shakedowns by government officials may have a negative effect on the country by dampening foreign investment by U.S. companies.
Investors, American and otherwise, who consult with the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, may be cautioned about the "cost" of doing business with various individuals in the Christie administration.
The report notes, "Anecdotal evidence suggests there is widespread patronage with contracts routinely directed to party supporters and benefactors." Note that the report says, "widespread". If it is widespread, what does the prime minister know and what action might he take to confront such "widespread patronage"?
Note that despite rushing to address the portion of the report about the PLP not keeping various promises, Christie did not address the even more serious issue about possible corruption. It fits with Christie going silent in the face of difficult news. His non-response is curious and troubling.
U.S. companies found engaged in improper financial transactions with officials of foreign governments may be penalized under U.S. law. With a dragnet of intelligence sources and methods the U.S. may have credible evidence on certain nefarious activities.
Diplomatic slap
But the Investment Climate Report also speaks to the broader climate of current U.S.-Bahamian relations. The report is a clear diplomatic slap at the Christie administration, with the U.S. seemingly concerned about the substance and tone the administration has taken on several fronts.
The intelligence and information the U.S. may possess on certain individuals relative of the recent report may come to haunt the Christie administration. But it isn't just confidential intelligence that has raised the alarm in various quarters about the administration.
With his continued conflict of interest as a former consultant to the Bahamas Petroleum Company, and suspension and perhaps eventual cancellation of a referendum on oil exploration, Christie has exposed the seeming comfort the PLP has with such conflicts of interest, conflicts which would have led to his resignation in other jurisdictions.
Are there now other clear conflicts of interest by any other Cabinet minister in terms of awarding contracts to former clients?
The Leslie Miller imbroglio at BEC is yet another example of Christie's and the PLP's toleration of improper conduct. It is bad enough that the chairman of the corporation had such a huge outstanding bill, even as the company was cutting off the electricity supply of scores of companies and consumers with much lesser amounts outstanding.
Publicly embarrassed, a part of Miller's bill was paid in huge sums of cash, in contravention of BEC's policies. Miller's claim that he did not know the company's policy on such cash payments is outrageous and curious, especially in light of him originally saying that he had paid with a cashier's check, a false statement to the public and the prime minister.
Miller had a huge outstanding bill. A part of his bill was paid for in a manner contrary to BEC policies. And he falsely stated how a part of the bill was paid.
He should be fired for any one of these reasons and most certainly for all of these reasons. In failing to fire him Christie has again demonstrated a tolerance for certain impropriety, and that he is afraid of Miller.
Web shop weave
Meanwhile, the tangled web shop weave created by the Christie administration has become even more entangled. Several banks have stated that they will not accept the proceeds from online web shop gambling even it is legalized.
The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) has deep concerns about the relationship between web shops, online gambling and money laundering.
Christie pledged to abide by the results of the gaming referendum, a pledge he rushed to break while seeking cover behind Central Bank Governor Wendy Craigg's concerns over the nature and level of unregulated numbers' dollars in the economy, including in home mortgage loans.
His reasons for why he quickly broke his pledge are unconvincing and convenient. He publicly discussed the money laundering concerns related to the web shops before the referendum vote.
Yet Christie and the PLP persist with rewarding the numbers bosses even though a national lottery is better for the country in terms of how it could benefit the poor and the middle class, as well as avoid harm to the country in terms of blowback on the money laundering front.
Why would Christie and the PLP risk the country's future and good name to grant a mega windfall to currently criminal enterprise? A part of the answer is that this speaks to the very nature and culture of the PLP.
When the world looks at The Bahamas today, from foreign investors to international financial agencies and governments to the FATF, it sees a potential head of state whose foundation named in honor of her husband was willing to accept a prize of a BMW from a web shop, and then excuse its behavior with a line an adolescent might use.
The world sees a prime minister, himself caught in a conflict of interest in terms of oil exploration, seemingly in full thrall to the numbers bosses at the great expense of the country and its people, and unwilling to fire the chairman of a public corporation who engaged in inappropriate conduct.
The world sees a biting report by U.S. officials that may only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of potential official corruption.
The larger issue is what do the Bahamian people see and how much we are willing to tolerate in a government whom the world may come to view as one of the most corrupt governments in an independent Bahamas.
With the U.S. government and international agencies, among others, likely in possession of information on official corruption, the Bahamian people may be in store for horrifying revelations. Here we go again!
o frontporchguardian@gmail.com, www.bahamapundit.com.
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