Minister of State for Investments Khaalis Rolle does not accept wholesale the concerns raised by U.S. investors into The Bahamas as cited in the U.S. Department of State's 2015 Investment Climate Statement. While acknowledging room for improvement, the minister insisted the issue surrounding government contracts in particular is not a simple one. In the face of the repetition of concerns raised by U.S. investors about the foreign direct investment (FDI) climate in The Bahamas, Rolle also stressed that The Bahamas is "not a rubber stamp jurisdiction". The concerns raised by some U.S. investors are no surprise, and have long been acknowledged by leaders from the public and private sectors in the jurisdiction, but Rolle insisted there was a more nuanced view of the statement's critiques than either wholesale acceptance or outright rejection.

"I don't accept them as a package," Rolle said.

"If you have ten people walk through a door and the last one gets hit in the face because the door got slammed in his face, that doesn't necessarily mean that there is something wrong with the door or the system. But that person, they are not going to talk about the nine that went through - they are going to talk about the one that got slammed in the face."

In the 2015 statement, compiled as usual mostly by the U.S. Embassy in The Bahamas, it was noted that American companies continued to complain about aspects of the procurement procedures in the management of funds from international lending agencies. The statement also notes that "allegations of widespread patronage and the routine directing of contracts to party supporters and benefactors have plagued the political system for decades".

"Now there are some clogs in the system, and those clogs have been identified," he said.

Procurement Process Defense
Rolle identified areas like the permitting process as clogs, but with respect to procurement, he had a different position.

"From a procurement standpoint, the government has an obligation to ensure that whenever there are business opportunities, Bahamians have equal or greater access to those opportunities in there economy. That's very important."

Bahamian businesses complain that they are not given a fair share in their country, Rolle explained.

"So what is a government to do? If there is an opportunity to contract with the government, our first obligation is to ensure that the level and quality the government will get is first rate, and then secondly, citizens have to have the first right of refusal for that. Otherwise we're doing the country a disservice," the minister asserted.

Rolle pointed out that The Bahamas has a very good relationship with the U.S. Embassy and with U.S. investors.

"When you look at the amount of investments we process, as a percentage of those complaining to the U.S. Embassy, it is a very low number. Most investments that we process are done in a timely fashion," the minister said.

Rolle disclosed that the government had met repeatedly - long discussions and many meetings, he phrased it - with the U.S. Embassy about the statement.

"We realize that we have work to do to ensure that government operates more efficiently and more effectively, particularly in relation to those areas identified. The key to all this is having a consolidated approach," he said.

"If you look at all of the efforts of Bahamian governments over the years to try and solve issues, its been done in isolation - no one has taken a focused, consolidated, comprehensive, integrated approach to these matters," he added.

"This National Development Plan is the key to solving a lot of these developmental issues. You have to look at where the process is working, where the process isn't working, and design the system to deal with it," he said.

National Development Plan
Rolle's focus on the National Development Plan resonated with the views of one of the leading spokesmen for the private sector. Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) President Gowon Bowe cited issues with the court system among the major areas needing focused attention, particularly as relates to enforcing contracts.

"Therefore, the statements of the US State Department regarding the investment climate of The Bahamas are not surprising. The BCCEC has articulated the importance of a concerted effort being made to address many of the issues contributing to the low rankings in the Ease of Doing Business Report 2015, which in turn should contribute to better rankings in the future, which should improve the perception of The Bahamas as a business-friendly environment - knowing that perception is reality in the global world of economics," he said.

Bowe pointed out that considerable attention has been given to expansion of the criminal court system, which he said is needed given the crime challenges in the country. Still, he pointed out that there has been no improvement and a decline in the categories of "enforcing contracts" and "resolving insolvency," respectively, over the 2014 report.

"Further, the ranking of The Bahamas in relation to registering property has experienced no change, and given that our ranking was near the bottom in this category, this does not bode well for us in attracting developers for our lands, be they domestic or foreign," Bowe warned, adding that land registry and confidence in title are paramount to a modern society, for international participants and Bahamians.

He said the working committees of the BCCEC, with the recently appointed chairpersons, would be re-engaging with the respective Cabinet Ministers to set out protocols for collaboration, and ultimately establish roadmaps with milestones to improving the ease of commerce.

"To that end, we are also very supportive of the National Development Plan initiative, as this should be integral in formulating the desired identity that The Bahamas wishes to have, the course of action to maximize the returns associated with such an identity, and the benchmarks by which we can measure success - tremendous leaps in the Ease of Doing Business rankings being a critical benchmark of success.

"The Government must provide the necessary resources to National Development Plan Secretariat to ensure that this initiative gains full traction by all stakeholders, and general consensus on the way forward, upward, onward, together."

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