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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2019
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PETER TURNQUEST
DPM: ‘No room’ for bribe paying By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE deputy prime minister yesterday asserted “there is no room” for the conduct that saw The Bahamas ranked as the region’s worst when it came to paying “bribes of convenience”. KP Turnquest urged Bahamians to inform the relevant minister or permanent secretary of such conduct if they were shaken down for a bribe by public officials in return for accessing essential services. Voicing hope that increased reliance on e-government and technology platforms to deliver these services would reduce the opportunity for graft and rent seeking, Mr Turnquest said the “21st century” Bahamas should not have to rely on corruption and under-the-table payments to incentivise civil servants to perform the jobs they are being paid for. Disclosing that he not seen media coverage of Transparency International’s report, Mr Turnquest said: “I can say this much: We have said from day one that we will not tolerate that kind of activity that we know has happened in the past. “We have worked very hard to try to be efficient, to try to be transparent about what we do. We’ve installed and implemented technology solutions to try to take away some of the need for that kind of thing.” He added: “We want an efficient, well run, transparent service that works for the benefit of the people and, to the extent that there has been any need for a tip or the public feels there is a need for a tip or some kind of gratuity, they should bring that to the attention of the permanent secretary or to the minister, and I am sure it would be dealt with because there is no room for that. “This is the 21st century. For God’s sake we ought to be able to deliver services efficiently without the need for any kind of graft or any kind of incentive for people to do their jobs, and that’s what we are working towards: A modern, efficient government utilising technology and digital services to streamline processes to help us deliver services we deserve.” Mr Turnquest was responding to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer study, which found that The Bahamas leads the Latin American and Caribbean region for paying “bribes
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GB Power: Extra $6m-$10m ‘pays off’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
GRAND Bahama Power Company yesterday said the extra $6m-$10m it invested in strengthening its network over the past two years “really paid off” during Hurricane Dorian. Dave McGregor, the utility’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that damage to its transmission and distribution (T&D) network would be “substantially less” than the near-$28m cost incurred to rebuild it following Hurricane Matthew due to the system “hardening” measures implemented over the past three years since that storm. He revealed that this had reduced the time taken to restore electricity services by a whole week, and that all Freeport’s communities and subdivisions should be
• Network hardening reduces outage time • CEO: All Freeport ‘energised’ by week’s end • T&D damages ‘much less’ than Matthew “energised” by week’s end even if individual homes and businesses cannot yet be restored to the grid because of flood damages. Disclosing that GB Power was “making quite extraordinary progress” in its post-Dorian restoration efforts, Mr McGregor said the category five storm had been a rain/flooding rather than wind damages event for the utility and its infrastructure assets. Besides the loss of “most” of its 92-strong vehicle fleet in Dorian’s storm surge, the GB Power chief said both its Peel Street generation plant and 50 percent of its substations were flooded out - with two of the latter
submerged in four feet of sea water. With Peel Street’s 50 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity likely to be lost for months, Mr McGregor revealed that GB Power would rent eight MW of rental generation capacity from Aggreko, the same supplier used by Bahamas Power & Light (BPL), to eliminate the possibility of any load shedding. While GB Power’s newer West Sunrise plant remains fully operational at 48 MW, and peak customer demand currently sits at 30 MW, it wants to have sufficient back-up for when individual engines were taken out of service for
A MAJOR Freeport retailer/wholesaler is aiming to “fully reopen” its building materials division tomorrow, as it pledged to rebound from Hurricane Dorian “stronger than ever before”. John Doherty, Kellys (Freeport’s) general manager, told Tribune Business that the company had made significant “strides” in rebuilding inventories and clearing out premises that had been devastated by the category five storm’s flooding just three weeks before.
Kelly’s (Freeport) to make good on long-held plans to modify and upgrade its retail store. Mr Doherty also revealed that the company had managed to keep all its 124 staff employed in Dorian’s aftermath, with 90 percent of employees present when the immediate post-Dorian damages assessment was conducted. Emphasisng that the financial cost inflicted by Hurricane Dorian was
Dorian’s $80m hit to farms, fisheries ‘quite staggering’ By YOURI KEMP
“not as important” as the resumption of operations, he revealed that 11 trailers had already come in post-storm to enable Kelly’s (Freeport) rebuild its inventories following the worst damage sustained by the business in its 54-year history. “We’ve made quite a few strides,” Mr Doherty told Tribune Business. “We have
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scheduled maintenance. Confirming that power has been restored to more than 90 percent of dry homes in non-flooded areas, Mr McGregor said GB Power’s focus was now shifting to those areas of Freeport and West End that had sustained water damage during Dorian. He acknowledged that the utility’s customer base was likely to be less than the 19,000 pre-Dorian as some businesses never reopen and homeowners opt to leave the island, estimating there would be “a few thousand we will not see for quite a while”.
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• Kelly’s (FPO) to re-open building materials • ‘Never sustained’ Dorian-type damages in history • Lost entire vehicle fleet, and retail store flooded out Estimating that the company’s building materials division was “about 80 percent fully recovered”, Mr Doherty said its housewares-focused retail store had progressed less due to the five-and-a-half feet of flood water intrusion it suffered. Suggesting that this business unit may not be fully operational until the New Year, he added that Dorian nevertheless may have created an opportunity for
MICHAEL PINTARD
HURRICANE Dorian has inflicted “quite staggering” $80m-plus damages on the Bahamian agricultural and fisheries industries, a Cabinet minister revealed yesterday. Michael Pintard, minister of agriculture and fisheries, said the government was now determining what relief packages it can provide to producers given that Abaco is the leading agricultural island in The Bahamas. Speaking ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Pintard said of Dorian damage assessments: “The initial figures are quite staggering. Comfortably they are in excess of $80m from the initial reports that we have. “Two of the three most important economies in The Bahamas have been devastated, with Abaco being arguably the leading economy as it relates to agriculture, with some of the major producers like Abaco Big Bird and Five Star Farms and others being on that island.” Mr Pintard sought to reassure farmers, saying: “We are now in the process of considering what package might the government, in conjunction with the international community, offer farmers and fishers who do not have insurance. Most of that sector does not have insurance and we have an obligation, in my mind, to assist them.” Confirming that more detailed assessments are ongoing, Mr Pintard added: “You have to actually find farmers and fishers as well to get their
Dorian-hit firm: We will be ‘stronger than ever’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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Bahamians must ‘mobilise corruption outrage to action’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIANS must “mobilise their outrage into action” if this nation is to defeat both real and perceived corruption plaguing society, governance reformers urged yesterday. Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas has “a real unique opportunity” to attack graft given that 85 percent of Bahamians believe ordinary persons can make a difference in fighting it. That finding was contained in Transparency International’s latest Global Corruption Barometer study of the Latin America and Caribbean region, which also noted that 80 percent of Bahamians felt
• Reformers to launch National Integrity Campaign • Say Bahamas has ‘real unique opportunity’ to attack graft • PM’s $200m-$500m corruption cost range ‘indicative’
MATT AUBRY corruption in government was a major problem. This placed The Bahamas behind only Trinidad & Tobago of the five Caribbean nations surveyed by Transparency International, while 45 percent of
Bahamians polled feel corruption has increased over the past 12 months. Mr Aubry, though, argued that the findings did not surprise ORG ahead of the upcoming launch of its National Integrity Campaign. “From the data we see in the Global Barometer, it is heartening to see 85 percent of Bahamians polled felt ordinary citizens can make a difference,” he told Tribune Business. “That is what this campaign hinges on. “What this poll shows is there’s a real interest and appetite. The hope is, and ORG is trying to create the opportunity, for us to push forward in a way to change
things. Just to be angry, just to be frustrated, just to be suspicious results in an emotional response that sees people vote to change the government every five years. “A campaign on this legislation [the Integrity Commission Bill] that sits ready to go is a good potential solution to this.... It’s critical to mobilise our discontent into action. That people not only see corruption as illegal, but its impact. It disproportionately affects those who have the least. They’re waiting in line longer, unable to access government services, and most likely to be solicited.”
Pointing to the Bill as an example, Mr Aubry said ORG had been puzzled as to why there was no public pressure on the government to move this anti-corruption legislation forward despite it “sitting” for two years and clear Bahamian frustration with the problems it is supposed to cure. “The conclusion for is was that it’s so ingrained in the culture that people feel this is what should be done. It’s become the nature, it’s become systematic, whether perceived or real, because of the inefficiency of the government system,” Mr Aubry said of paying bribes to public officials. “It’s become a faster way around roadblocks, and an opportunity for many to move things along, get to the finish or how to
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