EDITOR, The Tribune.

The Tribune today 14/04/2016 was another doozer, which makes one wonder “why do people continue to even live here”?.

Why the US restricted its criticism to “opaque” Government contracting is beyond my comprehension.

I don’t know when Save The Bays began its campaign, to correct the wrongs that have become the new Bahamian normal, and one can only imagine that perhaps the US State Department report data cut off before the e-mail and bank account leaks in the House of Assembly.

These were not corrupt activities per se, but this was undoubtedly in retaliation for a statement made by Peter Nygard about campaign contributions that he had made with a string attached to Simms Point.

Perhaps the US has its own nefarious campaign contributions which are attached to various and sundry special interests and they preferred not to venture into such a quagmire here. But this kind of campaign contribution, where the contributor can even think that he has paid for something, is out and out corruption of the highest order. But that is at the top of the Pyramid, that is The Bahamas today.

Then you have Rick Lowe, somewhere on the bottom row of the Pyramid telling a story about a civil servant countermanding his Ministry mandate because he personally didn’t get a ham or turkey for Christmas. One ham or one turkey is worth about sixty or seventy dollars! Both maybe 100.00 .

But this is a way of life today in this country and the cornerstone of doing business with the government. And I don’t mean the government of the day here, I mean the civil service. Bar a few good souls who struggle to be straight.

If you don’t PAY, they don’t PLAY! And the systems that Minister’s or seniors try to introduce, to cross check your compliance with other Government Ministries is a large part of the problem.

Work Permits - You need the Compliance Letter from NIB for the employee concerned, in order to file the renewal. If you have been tardy though, and don’t have your contributions paid up fully, for quite a few dollars less you can bribe someone at NIB to get a letter for you. Why can’t Immigration just request the letter themselves, and cut the middle man out?

I don’t think that Business License do it anymore, but the Department of Physical Planning had requested that they ( Business License) mandate a certificate be obtained from Physical Planning, before you could get your business license.

Well, guess who the beneficiary of this little caper is? Not the Business License people, but the man or woman who controls the physical planning certification. You need it, they can give it, and you only gots to “buy them lunch”. Or dinner depending on how fast you need it.

Or the police shaking down a Haitian on the way to work, on the off chance that the work permit has expired. They really don’t care about the permit, but they can frighten the Haitian with threats of incarceration and request a bribe to let it go. No, not all police, but one is too damned many for my liking. And usually there are two policemen in each squad car so there is complicity in the corruption. How can you win?

And immigration play the same game and get more for it because they can lawfully detain a foreigner, but will take a bribe to look the other way. There is BIG money in this country that is the proceed of a CRIME OF CORRUPTION. And my sister tells a story of the passport office just after the $200.00 “rush service ” option was instituted. She sent someone to the passport office and the fee was now 300.00. I guess $200 for the Treasury and one for the employee doing the rushing.

And if this editorial page were opened up to anonymous writers it would overflow with similar stories of corruption.

Now corruption is not just a cash operation, and as I have to do business with various government offices, my files would likely be lost or destroyed if I were to sign my name to this testament. So that is of itself corruption in my view. They will use their authority and power to deny me something that I am entitled to if I say something that they don’t like. Sorry but them’s the facts.

I hope the last person to leave the country will turn the lights off, if BEC is still running. Or is it BPL now.

MONKEEDOO

Nassau,

April 14, 2016.