In the wake of claims that foreign investors have once again exerted an undue level of control over the political landscape of The Bahamas, the urgent need for campaign finance reform appears more glaring than ever. There are no such laws in The Bahamas and we have said before that these reforms are necessary to help prevent the corruption of our political process.
Both the deputy leader of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), Chris Mortimer, and the former minister of state for legal affairs, Damian Gomez, raised the issue of campaign finance reform.
Mortimer pledged that if the DNA was elected to government, it would make campaign finance transparency legislation a priority.
He said: "The events of the past week have been sobering and this political cancer is going to kill this country. It is going to destroy our democracy and make us slaves to the special interests and the wealthy money men."
For his part, Gomez admitted that though his governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) promised to initiate campaign finance reform if elected, no such efforts have been made since the party came to office in 2012.
Asked about the possible negative perceptions that may have arisen from allegations that the PLP received $5 million from foreign investor Peter Nygard, Gomez said: "The purpose of campaign finance reform is to limit contributions to under $5,000 so no one can actually make such a large donation that one could suspect that they are getting something back from it and that's the whole point of it."
His party's association with the idea of regulated campaign financing goes back a long way. In 2004, during the PLP's last term in office, Dr. Elliston Rahming, serving then as the prime minister's personal assistant, told the press that Christie was in the process of pushing for campaign finance reform.
At the time the controversy revolved around the donations of Iranian businessman Mohammed Harajchi to the PLP, alleged at the time to be around $10 million. Scoffing at the idea that the sum was anywhere near that level, Rahming noted that "Our Plan", the document produced by the PLP during the 2002 election campaign, spoke of the need for campaign finance reform.
Under the headline "Constitutional Reform", the plan said, "The constitution ought to provide that Parliament may prescribe by law for open and fairness in procedure for the funding of parties at elections both local and national. There ought to be prescribed national limits on party political expenditure with appropriate penalties."
Rahming said of Christie, "He is not playing when he talks about the need for campaign reform. In fact he has said over and over in private conversations that it's absurd how parties go about raising monies in The Bahamas to compete because this whole thing is about political contributions."
Twelve years and two constitutional commissions have come and gone, with Christie serving as prime minister for more than half that time, yet his administrations have failed to make any moves toward campaign finance reform. Now, the prime minister finds himself embroiled in yet another controversy over alleged funds donated by a wealthy foreigner.
The ball is still in his court. Christie should make this most urgent issue a matter of priority ahead of the next general election. Other politicians, elected and aspiring, should too press for campaign finance reform. Crises are opportunities for change. We should use this one to better our political process.
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