The Bahamas has a difficulty with the concept of open government. We as a society subscribe to the theory that in electing members of Parliament to represent us, we are also giving them free rein to make decisions on our behalf. If we are unsatisfied with their performance, we have a chance to replace them every five years.
We do not tend to see our elected officials as employees; paid administrators answerable to us, the shareholders of Corporation Bahamas. Rather, we venerate them as "leaders", visionary captains of the ship of state who are tasked with charting the way forward so the rest of us can follow.
Transparency, according to this paternalistic scenario, is defined as officials revealing only what in their wise opinion, the public needs to know. Otherwise, we are meant to trust that they are making the correct decisions on our behalf.
So, the response of Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis to the U.S. Department of State's latest investment climate report on The Bahamas was unsurprising. In the face of claims that government contracts are tampered with and issued under a veil of secrecy, Davis said he believes the process is "quiet transparent".
He added: "I don't know what they mean by not being transparent. Again, these are generalized statements and the use of this word that has a wide meaning. What do we mean by what is transparent?
"The fact that I may not tell you each step of a process, or the fact that I don't reveal to you the names of parties involved, is that what you mean by a lack of transparency? "Or is it not transparent because I'm doing a deal on the side with somebody? What does it mean?"
The answer of course, as far as the United States and other advanced democracies are concerned, is all of the above. Transparency means that our representatives inform us of each step in the process of granting a contract; that they name all parties involved and what's more, reveal the details of their bids as well as their level of experience and track record.
One of the main reasons transparency requires all these steps, is precisely to ensure that no "deal on the side" is being done, and that the public is getting the best possible value for its money.
In a nutshell, the modern concept of transparency means that every detail of every decision or transaction made on the public's behalf is open to public scrutiny and all relevant documents are available to any citizen upon request; barring, of course, where government can demonstrate the need for secrecy to protect personal privacy or national security.
Since the release of the report, some have rushed to point out that the U.S. government often fails to live up to its own ideal. This a fair, but ultimately irrelevant observation.
The ideal itself is what is important, both because it gives citizens an objective standard to judge their government by, and because it is a potent symbol of the public's sovereignty in a representative democracy.
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