By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An auto dealer yesterday exposed the ‘every day corruption’ undermining Bahamian society, disclosing how a public official unilaterally attempted to change Government policy because they had not provided him with a free Christmas ‘ham and turkey’.

Rick Lowe, Nassau Motor Company’s (NMC) operations manager/director, cited the incident as an example of how even ‘low level’ graft “puts a spoke” into the ease of doing business in the Bahamas.

He said NMC and at least one other auto dealer, who had experienced the official’s demands, had complained formally to the Road Traffic Department. They were now waiting to hear back from Ross Smith, the Road Traffic Controller, who was investigating the matter.

Mr Lowe explained that the Government had agreed that brand new autos did not have to be put through the regular Road Traffic inspection prior to hitting the streets, given that all the functions normally checked were assumed to be working.

However, one official - who he declined to name - sought to reverse this policy by themselves, and demanded that new autos undergo the inspection, because they had not received a Christmas ‘present’ from the dealers.

“We’ve been able to take just the documents for new cars down there, and didn’t have to drive the vehicles, exposing them to damage or anything like that,” Mr Lowe told Tribune Business.

“That policy has been in place for several years. We went to the Road Traffic Department as usual, and this official promptly informed a couple of dealer associated that because we didn’t give them a ham and turkey for Christmas, the policy no longer applied as far as they were concerned. We reported it to the Road Traffic Controller, and await his assistance.”

Mr Lowe said it was important for Bahamians to take a stand against ‘low level, every day’ corruption given the damaging effects it has on society and the economy, increasing business costs and undermining integrity.

“This is not to bad mouth all civil servants, as there are a lot of good ones, and many who do great work under pressure,” he emphasised.

“But these people put a spoke in everyday business, and make it difficult to exist. People aren’t inclined to expand their businesses as a result..... When a Government agency allows it to happen, it makes productivity near impossible.

“The public officials know what’s happening. It’s bad enough to even think a customer owes you a gift or money for doing your job,”he continued.

“If Road Traffic suddenly changed the policy, fine, but for one individual to decide they’re going to overturn that and inconvenience everyone, it’s just not cricket.”

Virtually all Bahamians have heard ‘stories’ of public officials seeking payments before they will issue various permits and approvals, although very few will speak ‘on the record’ about such incidents, and punishment for such infractions is almost unheard of.

Mr Lowe, though, likened the cumulative impact of such incidents to “a death by a thousand cuts”, given the deterrent effect it has on private sector expansion and job creation.

“It’s bad for business,” he told Tribune Business simply. “It leads to excessive costs in particularly hard times, and it becomes an expectation by some civil servants that we must give a hand out in order for them to provide the service they were hired for.

“It just makes every day business more difficult, and makes people less inclined to expand their business. It’s a slow death; death by a thousand cuts. You won’t find people intending to do business.

“We can’t afford this. It becomes excessive. In every aspect of life, if you have to pay someone to get a Government service, the cost of living will increase drastically, instead of promoting more investment, more co-operation and more business, which enures to the Public Treasury.”

Mr Lowe described ‘every day, low level incidents of graft and corruption as “insidious”

Some even believe it has become the ‘norm’ among a significant segment of Bahamian society, given how prevalent such episodes are, indicating it has almost become institutionalised - among both those making and receiving payments.

Mr Lowe’s concerns were voiced on the same day that the US blasted the Bahamas over the weak enforcement of anti-corruption laws, arguing that public officials were able to engage in such acts “with impunity”.

“The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials,” the US State Department’s 2015 human rights report said.

“However, the Government did not implement the law effectively, and officials engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. There were frequent reports of government corruption during the year.”

The US State Department said Government procurement and contract tender processes were “particularly susceptible to corruption”, as they were “opaque, contain no requirement to engage in open public tenders, and do not allow award decisions to be reviewed”.

The Bahamas brought the “first significant case since 1989” under the Prevention of Bribery Act last October, when Freddie Ramsay was charged in relation to Alstom’s supply of generators to the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC).