By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Corruption is "rooted in the fabric of Bahamian society", a survey unveiled yesterday revealing that zero action was taken over the 6 per cent of bribery demands reported to authorities.

Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer survey found that despite "one in 10 Bahamians" disclosing they had paid a bribe within the past year to obtain public services, few reported this corruption to law enforcement.

The findings, based on a survey of 1,000 Bahamians conducted in October 2017 by the Public Domain research firm, found that almost half were too scared of the consequences - such as potential retaliation and victimisation - to report allegations of 'rent seeking' by public officials.

This was despite 52 per cent of respondents deeming it "socially acceptable" to report corruption to the authorities, with the findings suggesting 'fear' is a major obstacle to stamping out a problem that the Prime Minister recently estimated costs the Bahamian economy some $200 million per year.

"While reporting corruption was in theory seen as socially acceptable in the Bahamas, in practice few people actually reported corruption when they experienced it," Transparency International said of its 'corruption perceptions' finding. "Of the bribe payers in our survey, fewer than one in 10 said that they had actually reported it to the authorities (6 per cent).

"Overwhelmingly the survey showed that of those who reported an incident of corruption to the authorities, not one respondent said that the authorities took action against the government officials involved."

This was despite the survey's finding that one in Bahamian adults paid a bribe within the past year to access six different types of public service - the police, ID documents, utility providers, the courts, healthcare and the courts.

The results showed that one in eight Bahamians, some 13 per cent, who had contact with the police in the year prior to October 2017 "had paid a bribe in order to get the services they need".

While 'rent seeking' was most prevalent in the public's dealings with the police, the Transparency International report found that illicit payments to agencies such as Immigration (work permits, residency permits), the Road Traffic Department (driver's licences) and Passport Office, plus publicly-owned utilities, were not far behind.

"Utility providers and the process of obtaining identity documents, such as passports and driver's licences, were also affected by bribery, with one in nine people who came into contact with these public service providers in the previous 12 months paying a bribe in order to get the services they needed (11 per cent for each)," the Corruption Barometer survey found.

"Bribery in the courts was also reported, with one in 10 people who came into contact with the courts having paid a bribe in the previous 12 months, demonstrating that there is still an acute corruption risk in this key law and order institution (10 per cent)."

The findings thus indicate how corruption is seemingly undermining the 'rule of law' and public safety, plus the Bahamas' ability to police its borders and determine who can reside in the country.

Lemarque Campbell, chair of Citizens for a Better Bahamas, the local Transparency International affiliate, told Tribune Business yesterday that "we all lose" as a result of corruption, with the Government's "bleeding" resulting in higher taxes and other costs for all businesses and residents.

He suggested that corruption had become "a cultural element in the mindset of Bahamians", with many adopting the attitude that they needed to "cheat the system" to get ahead in life regardless of the wider problems this created for the country's democratic institutions and good governance.

Calling for the Minnis administration to place combating corruption at "the top of its agenda", as it has repeatedly promised, Mr Campbell warned that this was critical to creating a fairer society for all Bahamians.

"Corruption affects us all," Mr Campbell told Tribune Business. "It's rooted in the fabric of society. It should be at the top of the Government's agenda. You negate corruption, you ensure you have more government revenue coming in, you have a fairer system for people to live in.

"At the end of the day, we all lose from corruption. Money bleeds from the Government so we have to pay increased taxes....... It's a cultural element in the mindset of Bahamians. In some countries it's an issue where you have to engage in corruption to survive. Here it's 'you cheat the system to get more ahead'. It's a cultural element and a psychological element when you look at corruption in its entirety."

The Bahamas' results in the Corruption Barometer were not dissimilar to those for Caribbean rivals. "We found that one in ten Bahamians who had come into contact with a public service in the previous 12 months had paid a bribe (10 per cent)," the report said.

"This figure puts the Bahamas between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, whose bribery rates over the last 12 months were 21 per cent and 6 per cent respectively."

However, Mr Campbell revealed that the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) had scored an unwanted first by becoming the first such organisation in the Caribbean to rank top for both receiving bribery payments and being perceived as the country's most corrupt public institution.

This, the Citizens for a Better Bahamas chair added, also helped to explain why so few Bahamians were willing to report bribery demands and other corruption forms, given that the RBPF will be charged with investigating all such complaints.

"Low reporting rates of corruption are not surprising in the Bahamas, given that respondents to the survey perceived the police as the most highly corrupt public institution, along with the fact that the police was also the public service with the highest bribery rates," the Transparency International survey found.

"These results show that the inadequate action of authorities, along with the high risk of retaliation and negative consequences, may deter most individuals from actually coming forward and reporting cases of corruption in the Bahamas.

"Furthermore, this suggests that the lack of a whistleblower protection policy in the Bahamas may also be a contributing factor for individuals not coming forward and reporting corruption."

When asked why people did not report corruption, some 44 per cent of survey respondents said they were "too afraid of the consequences". Another 19 per cent expressed the view that "nothing will be done" if such reports are made, while 7 per cent were concerned that officials they would have to report to "are also corrupt". A further 5 per cent held the view that corruption was "normal", and that "everyone does it".

The survey results again highlight how actual corruption, and perceptions of corruption, continue to prevent the Bahamas' development as a meritocracy. Besides imposing extra costs on all Bahamians and local businesses, it represents a scourge leading to an inequitable society where certain persons are able to 'game the system' while depriving taxpayers of 'value for money'.

Corruption can take many forms, and be as simple as persons paying for a public official's lunch to ensure they 'jump the queue' or obtain an essential permit they would normally get.

Based on the findings, Transparency International called for the Government to "clean up the police" by reinforcing internal discipline and establishing mechanisms to provide "permanent accountability and integrity".

Besides strengthening the police force's ability to investigate corruption, bribery and 'white collar' crimes, the report also urged better protection for 'whistleblowers' in a bid to encourage Bahamians to report such offences to the authorities.

"The Bahamian government should create actual accessible, anonymous reporting channels for whistleblowers, which guarantee their protection from all form of retaliation," the Corruption Barometer survey urged.

Mr Campbell told Tribune Business there was "a lot of work to be done" to close-off what he described as "loopholes", adding that the survey's findings showed corruption - and perceptions of corruption - stretched from the very top of Bahamian society all the way to the bottom.

"It shows how corruption comes straight from the top and comes from the bottom, where people pay a bribe," he said. "It's not just the politicians; it shows the people themselves are engaging in corruption. It's a two-way street."

Mr Campbell argued that addressing inefficiencies in public services and the 'ease of doing business' would go a long way to reducing corruption, reducing the incentive to pay bribes to 'jump the queue' for services and permits.

"Until we address a lot of the inefficiencies in public services, corruption will not be mitigated," he added. "For ID documents, instead of having face-to-face contact with government officials, it has to move to e-government and an electronic platform. It enhances the ease of doing business and decreases corruption in that area."

Mr Campbell backed the Government's planned public procurement process reforms as "a significant step forward", but urged it to further enhance transparency and accountability through Freedom of Information and Public Disclosure Act implementations.

He added that the Corruption Barometer survey would likely be repeated in two years' time, in a bid to assess the Bahamas' and government's progress, acting as "a report card".