By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney yesterday scoffed at recent comments made by Dr Hubert Minnis, insisting that both the Free National Movement and Progressive Liberal Party are to blame for the current level of systemic corruption that exists within public systems.

Mr McCartney lambasted both political groups for their “complete disregard” for true public representation. He also said the Bahamas would be “rocked to its core” if the public were made aware of how many high-ranking public officials gained their fortunes.

In its 2015 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in The Bahamas, released last week, the US State Department identified the government’s ineffectiveness at implementing corruption laws as the reason officials engage in illegal practices without consequence.

The report said the government’s public contract procurement process was “opaque” given that there was no requirement for open public tenders or allowance for award decisions to be reviewed.

On the subject of corruption and government transparency, the report also took issue with the fact that there was no independent verification of annual public disclosures from senior public officials, and called the annual submission rate “weak” unless it was an election year.

Last week, in response to the report, Dr Minnis said corruption was endemic in Bahamian society. The FNM leader said his party would bring new anti-corruption laws and establish an independent agency with no ties to the Office of the Attorney General if elected.

Meanwhile, Mr McCartney said that officials from both sides of the political divide entered public life “broke as the day is long” and once retired, had amassed “ungodly amounts of money and wealth”.

“Bahamians must wake up and see what is really going on around them,” Mr McCartney told The Tribune. “How can a person with a net worth of $50,000 at the start, walk away after five years with $5m net worth and no questions are asked? No investigations are launched? Nothing?”

Mr McCartney said political leaders have made corruption a part of the political norm.

“There is no way you can explain this. Public disclosures aren’t even being respected anymore,” he added.

He further stressed that the country could no longer sustain the current level of corruption without “feeling the pinches.”

“It is unsustainable. But mostly, it is unfair to our hardworking citizens who are paying the heavy toll for the mistakes and failures of the people being elected to serve,” he told The Tribune.

“Our honourable deputy prime minister has gone on record to say that the only way to stop corruption among our leaders is to pay them more,” Mr McCartney said, referring to comments made by Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis in 2014.

“He hasn’t moved away from that. He didn’t deny the corruption, all he did was stress that he and his political colleagues needed to be paid more.

“Very alarming. So I can’t be shocked when the US says that corruption exists here because one of my highest leaders admitted that it does. He told us we needed to pay our officials more to prevent it.”

Speaking directly to the report, Mr McCartney said that the idea of “kickbacks and incentives for work” had stemmed from the very top of the country’s public systems.

“We deserve a government that yields to the rule and voice of the people,” he said. “Not one that works above it and then promises a bunch of nonsense in the hopes of being re-elected. The PLP and the FNM have devalued the public offices of this country to the point where we are overwhelmed when they do what they are supposed to do.”

Mr McCartney implied that both the FNM and the PLP are tied to special interest groups whose proposals and plans are being given strong national pushes in response to political funding.

“Don’t believe me? Our mid-year budget debate was hijacked by arguments between the two sides over who was more corrupt. Our honourable House of Assembly became the stage for saying who was more vile and evil. One side said the other was more guilty. None claimed innocent,” Mr McCartney said.

“. . .As a country we are suffering. Investors are shying away from The Bahamas because they are afraid of these under the table processes. There aren’t any investment opportunities on the horizon because investors are now seeing the way business is done here and they are not interested in doing business like that.”

“Our leaders are selling themselves out,” Mr McCartney added. “If investors are attempting to do business here they are demanding kickbacks. That’s a habit we now see everywhere throughout the public system. People want incentives to do the jobs that they are already being paid to do. And now, they are saying the only way for it to be stop is for them to be paid more.”

The DNA has promised that if elected, the party would implement laws on freedom of information and campaign finance as well as fairly separate the judiciary from the executive branch of government.