The trust gamble

At this stage of the political game, the “matter of trust” phrase has become trite. Nevertheless, it remains true.

The coming election will boil down to which leader voters trust to lead us in the next five years.

Will they decide despite all of the unfulfilled pledges to give Dr. Hubert Minnis and the Free National Movement (FNM) a pass, excusing them for failing to deliver given the unprecedented crises that have gripped our country over the last two years?

Will they instead believe Philip Brave Davis in his contention that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has learned lessons from its past sins and mistakes, and has been rebranded and reformed with a commitment to integrity and accountability, qualities they struggled to convey the last time around?

Although it has failed to produce an all-star line-up to contest the general election, the PLP appears organized – pressing the button on mostly high-quality political advertising and showing up the FNM by releasing its new plan to the Bahamian people, even if it contains largely rehashed ideas, and some unrealistic pledges.

In its plan, “Our Blueprint for the Future”, the PLP pledges several pieces of legislation it previously promised, but mostly failed to deliver.

“We commit to fully implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), an Integrity Commission Act, Ombudsman Bill, new Public Disclosure Act, Anti-Corruption Act, campaign finance reform, code of conduct, Whistleblower Act, Electoral Reform Act and Procurement Act,” the party states.

Not long before the 2017 general election, a PLP administration did pass a FOIA, although it never enacted it.

The FNM came to office pledging to bring the act into force. It did so, appointing an information commissioner and deputy information commissioner under the act earlier this year, but advising that it will be months before the necessary infrastructure will be in place for members of the public to start making requests for information under the legislation.

The slowness with which the act has been enacted has left many Bahamians believing the current administration was in no hurry to provide this new and broad access to information the public has a legitimate right to access.

Early in the term, the Minnis administration did bring into force the whistleblower provision of the FOIA.

That provision legally protects anyone from any kind of sanction for releasing information on wrongdoing as long as they acted in good faith and in the reasonable belief that the information was substantially true and disclosed evidence of wrongdoing.

Whether there is also a need for a comprehensive Whistleblower Act, as the PLP seems to be proposing, is unclear.

It will be interesting for sure to see whether a Davis administration would indeed pass an Integrity Commission Bill.

The Minnis administration tabled such a bill in the House of Assembly in October 2017, but never gave it any attention. The bill formally died when the House of Assembly was dissolved on August 19.

The proposed legislation, which would have repealed the antiquated Public Disclosure Act, outlined what would be considered corrupt acts, conflicts of interest and inappropriate or unethical behavior on the part of public officials.

Likewise, the Minnis administration tabled an Ombudsman Bill in 2017, and never moved on it. This particular piece of legislation has repeatedly been pledged in speeches from the throne, but has never seen the light of day.

The bill would have empowered an ombudsman to investigate any administrative action of an authority for the purpose of deciding whether there is evidence of maladministration on the part of that authority.

If a Davis administration passes the Integrity Commission and Ombudsman bills and provides the information commission with the resources it needs to be fully established, it would have made important achievements in fostering more transparent and accountable governance, assuming enforcement of the legislation is effective.

The current Public Disclosure Act was passed in 1976. The Public Disclosure Commission is under-resourced. The act fails to achieve what it was intended to achieve, and that is to foster transparency among public officials, thereby reducing the chances of corruption.

More a talker than a man of action, Dr. Hubert Minnis, upon assuming office in 2017, pledged to expose those parliamentarians – former and current – who failed to file their financial disclosures during the last term, as required by law.

This never happened.

While the public this week got to review the disclosures of candidates vying for office as mandated under the Parliamentary Elections Act, incredibly, the Public Disclosure Commission as mandated under the Public Disclosure Act has failed to gazette any disclosures since 2011, and that report contained information on disclosures only up to 2008.

Myles Laroda, the former Public Disclosure Commission chairman, who is now a PLP candidate, repeatedly lamented the commission’s lack of resources to meet its obligations under the act. Perhaps he would have some influence over the new prime minister, should the PLP be elected to office in two weeks.

ANTI-CORRUPTION

It would also be interesting to see whether a Davis administration would introduce and have passed an Anti-Corruption Bill as pledged.

Despite the principal of collective responsibility, we are often told by PLPs that because Davis was not prime minister in the last term, he did not have ultimate say in what the administration chose to focus on and what pledges it decided to fulfill.

For instance, prior to the general election in 2012, Davis, clearly playing on the emotions of voters angry over the New Providence Road Improvement Project and the sale of a majority stake in The Bahamas Telecommunications Company, vowed that a PLP government would hold a commission of inquiry to fully investigate those matters.

Not surprisingly, no such inquiry took place.

Davis’ pledge now of anti-corruption legislation is a repeat of what the PLP previously promised and failed to provide.

In office, Prime Minister Perry Christie committed to a strengthened anti-corruption regime.

Speaking in 2014 at an anti-corruption forum in the Cayman Islands, Christie advised that his government was working on a national anti-corruption plan, which would include, among other elements, a renewed focus on quality leadership and inculcating a sustained political commitment to fight corruption.

He said anti-corruption legislation would come before the end of 2014 in the form of either a new Prevention of Corruption Act or Integrity in Public Life Act.

That all proved to be hot air.

After losing the election in 2007, Christie said the PLP lost simply because it was outspent by Hubert Ingraham and the FNM.

The 2012 PLP administration promised a campaign finance bill, which never materialized. 

The Minnis administration, too, pledged such legislation, repeatedly stating during the course of this term that such a bill was being finalized to regulate money in political campaigns.

But early last year, the prime minister presumptuously told reporters he had “seven more years” to fulfill that pledged.

Now, Davis and the PLP are promising the same.

Such legislation would need to be brought early in a new term if it is to have a realistic chance of passing. Introducing such a bill late in the term would make it even more controversial than it is likely to be.

The FNM also promised electoral reform, with its promises in this regard also going unfulfilled.

Despite repeated pledges to implement a fixed election date, introduce a term limit for prime minister and establish a recall system for poorly performing members of Parliament, the FNM administration failed to deliver.

The PLP has not indicated what the elements of an Electoral Reform Act would be, but again, if it is serious about effecting change in this regard, it must not wait too late into the term to do so, should it win the approaching election.

The PLP’s pledge to fully implement the Public Procurement Act might be unnecessary given that that act, passed earlier this year, is scheduled to come into force today. If elected, the PLP must commit to enforcement of this important new law.

We have seen too many examples of laws being passed with weak enforcement, thereby posing a threat to good governance commitments.

Every incoming administration promises transparent, accountable governance with high standards of integrity; but not every administration delivers on those commitments.

It is good to see the PLP make an effort to put on paper its plans for governance. It would be another thing entirely to see such a plan fully in action.

As the sayings go, paper would lie down and let you write anything on it, and mouth can say plenty.

At the end of the day, it is the actions of our leaders that make all the difference in the quality of governance delivered.

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