Chamber chair: ‘Cut out corruption cancer’

Thursday, April 28, 2016

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas was yesterday urged to “cut out the cancer” of corruption, the Chamber of Commerce’s chairman describing this nation’s persistent failure to tackle the problem as “the real tragedy”.

Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business that repeated incidents of low-level fraud and corruption, spread across multiple government agencies, meant that the Bahamas was “dying a death from a thousand cuts”.

He said the Government needed to make “the bold move” of tackling the problem via “a deep cut”, rather than simply tinkering with existing systems and processes, or moving workers accused of wrongdoing to another agency.

Mr Bowe said the Bahamas’ problems were “more the enforcement”, and the appropriate punishment of wrongdoers, many of whom were either given a ‘slap on the wrist’ or allowed to leave their jobs with no blemish on their employment records.

Speaking after the Auditor-General uncovered widespread fraud and corruption, and major internal control breakdowns at the Department of Social Services, the Chamber chief told Tribune Business: “Around corruption, we know there are challenges in a lot of government agencies.

“There’s a concerted need for educational strengthening in many of our institutions.”

Pointing to other Auditor-General reports, which had exposed situations such as the Ministry of Education over-paying employees by almost $1 million, Mr Bowe said the Government needed to manage its money just like the private sector.

He questioned whether the Ministries, departments and agencies receiving the largest Budget allocations, running into multi-million dollar sums, had financial controllers/financial officers who were qualified certified public accountants (CPAs).

Mr Bowe, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accountant and partner, contrasted the public sector’s approach with that of private sector financial controllers, whose costs were “justified” by the volume of funds they’re administering”.

“It ends up being a real dollar and cents issue, and if it’s not properly managed with accountability, it becomes the subject of fraud and misappropriation,” he said of Government monies.

“As we modernise, we have to put in place systems, processes and people to make sure assets are properly protected.”

Mr Bowe said Bahamian companies and residents saw an inevitable increase in their tax burden from the combination of poor revenue administration/collection; wasteful and inefficient spending; and fraud and corruption within the public sector.

“We broadly recognise that it ultimately increases our tax base, the people’s tax burden, and if we allow these acts to go unchecked, it adds a multiple to the taxes being charged,” the Chamber chairman told Tribune Business.

He emphasised that the weaknesses and wrongdoing uncovered at the Department of Social Services were similar to those exposed by the Auditor-General and others “going back over the last decade:”.

“The real tragedy is that no one has taken the bold move to correct it,” Mr Bowe said. “The bold move to move the people, and change the systems and processes, to make sure it’s not re-occurring.

“It’s a lot of work, Neil, and it really needs a statement, and it would be a bold statement by an administration, to say enough is enough, and that it will be addressed in a holistic manner.

“It must be addressed by a deep cut, as opposed to 1,000 cuts. We’re already killing ourselves by thousands of these cuts. We need to cut out the cancer and move on with the healthy parts of the system.”

Mr Bowe said that should the Government elect to redesign its internal controls, it needed to look at centralising and consolidating them, and eliminating manual processes, all of which could help to eliminate fraud and stealing.

He also suggested that staff from the Ministry of Finance and Public Treasury should be seconded to some ministries and departments in a bid to exercise greater controls over spending.

Turning to the report on the Department of Social Services, Mr Bowe said it showed the need for “the timely performance of audit reviews” if the Auditor-General was to be used in an internal audit capacity.

Calling for the Auditor General’s office to be properly staffed and resourced, the Chamber chairman said its report showed that the Department of Social Services’ controls had acted to detect fraud rather than prevent it.

He added that the Auditor-General’s findings also needed “to be respected, as very often it’s how we can defend the comment as opposed to attacking the root”.

The Chamber chief was implying that such reports are frequently ignored or criticised, with the Government agencies subject to them resisting their findings or recommended changes, although - on the face of it- this does not appear to be happening with the Department of Social Services.

“Most of the time, it’s not necessarily that we don’t have the controls in place,” Mr Bowe added. “It’s whether they are properly designed or are not operating properly.”

Pointing to the ‘food coupon’ fraud perpetrated by several staff members at Social Services, Mr Bowe said both the stamps and the director’s signature machine were supposed to have been under “lock and key”,indicating the proper procedures were not being followed.

“How we fix it, and prevent it, and mete out punishment for those caught in corrupt practices and acts should be the focus of attention,” Mr Bowe told Tribune Business.

“Our problem is more the enforcement. When persons are found out, there’s no clear message of the consequences; persons losing their jobs, and that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Comments

The_Oracle says...

Cutting out the fraud cancer wholesale will leave the patient (country) dead.
Endemic, intrinsic, ingrained, and led from the top.
If one would prosecute from the top down,
you will find that mid level and lower will lose there appetite for fraud and theft.
Start at the bottom, you'll end up with 80% of the government in jail!
Ironic that the PLP threat of old was that if they got voted out,
civil servants would lose their jobs,
here we sit needing them all fired!
Where do you find another (4th) third of the population to replace them with?

Posted 28 April 2016, 3:49 p.m. Suggest removal

MonkeeDoo says...

The Auditor General keeps bringing the evidence of endemic corruption but having reported on it, it just dies. What happened about the missing money at Road Traffic in Abaco. All the other missing money. Why isn't the opposition keeping each case hot so it can't be forgotten. Why isn't the press keeping it hot. The opposition should be shouting this every time the house meets.

Posted 28 April 2016, 4:24 p.m. Suggest removal

Well_mudda_take_sic says...

Well, well.....it seems Mr. Bowe is finally beginning to understand the root cause of all the problems the Bahamas and Bahamians are up against today. It certainly has taken him long enough to do so! Let's hope he can now stay laser focused on the overall corruption issue that exits at the highest levels of our government - the permanent secretaries and cabinet ministers. If he cant, it means all of the highly burdensome tax dollars being paid by honest hardworking Bahamians and Bahamian businesses will continue to be squandered or used to line the pockets of the political elite and their cronies. Good luck Mr. Bowe - many of us are counting on you.

Posted 28 April 2016, 5:50 p.m. Suggest removal

Reality_Check says...

Perhaps Bowe should start his crusade against government corruption, fraud and waste by devoting to the financial reporting requirements of parliamentarians under the Public Disclosure Act the same time and energy he has devoted to the financial reporting requirements of businesses and the self-employed under the Business License Tax Act. His fellow professional accountants seem to be all over the wall in terms of the standards being applied in preparing the financial disclosures of those parliamentarians who endeavour to be onside the law. The Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants has a golden opportunity here to do the public a great service by ensuring proper accounting and assurance reporting standards are agreed by all concerned and then adhered to - but will BICA step up to plate on such an important initiative?

Posted 29 April 2016, 1:49 p.m. Suggest removal

Economist says...

Whoever wins the next election is going to have to govern for the benefit of the Nation and make very, very hard decisions. We have left the rot for so long.

There will be many who will be disgruntled as no one, especially us Bahamians, likes change, but change we must. There will be protests and people in the streets.

If we don't change our economy is doomed.

Posted 28 April 2016, 5:53 p.m. Suggest removal

GrassRoot says...

anti corruption movements only work if grassroot. it is up to you and you and you and me to get this started. corruption needs to be called out, people need to be shamed, the good forces to be endorsed. This government and the next government will do absolutely nothing to change this.

Posted 29 April 2016, 1:40 p.m. Suggest removal

Is there an organized and potential replacement to the current party in power ? In the Bahamas ? Yes, the economy is doomed as are we. Pride goeth before a fall !!!

Posted 28 April 2016, 11:19 p.m. Suggest removal

Fitmiss says...

This gentleman has stated some very interesting and clear cases of corruption. He further went on to add certain measures that should be taken. It is rather unfortunate that when blatant cases of fraud and theft is brought to the foreground, nothing is done. The only thing we do is transfer certain individuals with bad track records to another Ministry. We need checks and balances put into place, but they are useless without legislation on the books that calls for the prosecuting of these individuals. Unfortunately many of the lower level thieves may be caught while the persons in charge manage to continue stealing without being punished. It is a step in the right direction that so much light is now being shed on the level of corruption in our government. We need to start sending high level government employees as well as Ministers to jail for stealing and corruption. They are not the law nor above it. It is rather unfortunate that we only have news reporters in this country instead of investigative journalists. Then again we can not blame the reporters who may uncover corruption but are not allowed to report on it for whatever reason.

Posted 29 April 2016, 11:04 a.m. Suggest removal

Our Attorney General, the Wicked Witch of the West (Allyson Maynard-Gibson), is quite content to put poor Bahamians in Fox Hill Prison for years if caught stealing (because they cannot find a job) to buy medicine or food for themselves or their sick or hungry young children, but she does not prosecute the political elite of the PLP and their business cronies when it is clear they have broken the laws of our country. Instead she goes out of her way to protect the political elite of the PLP and their business cronies no matter what crimes they may have committed. We have fellow Bahamians in Fox Hill prison today for having stolen small amounts of money or goods as the only possible means of obtaining food or medicine for themselves or their very young children. They sadly could not get one of those many jobs that had been promised by the PLP and more likely lost the job they had because of the manner in which the corrupt Christie-led PLP government has run our economy right into the ground. Yet all around us we see the political elite of the PLP and their business cronies stealing from the Bahamian people by way of massive fraud and corruption, but, thanks to the Wicked Witch of the West, none of them ever get prosecuted for their major crimes.

Posted 29 April 2016, 11:29 a.m. Suggest removal