Let me sum up in this instance the foolishness behind all such loans from the IDB:

1) These types of loans are intended to increase our already unsustainable foreign currency denominated debt, which is the primary mechanism by which the U.S. government, through its international lending agencies like the IDB, seeks to control and/or destabilize other countries for their own self-serving purposes. It is also for this reason that the terms of such loans are not that generous relative to general market conditions.

2) The U.S. government (IDB) decided on who would get this grossly inflated contract. In this case very costly foreign consultants, likely based in Estonia, will get a generous portion of the overall contract amount. In essence, financial wealth from our country will be transferred to Estonia. That's consistent with current U.S. foreign policy aimed at financially crippling the Bahamas, because we have allowed Red China a foothold on the door step to Florida, while at the same time strengthening the economy of a Baltic State that plays a vital role in NATO's defense of Europe from Russian aggression. This transfer of wealth from us to Estonia therefore kills two birds with one stone from Uncle Sam's point of view.

3) The contract will not result in the development of local expertise necessary to maintain the operability of the new systems on a long term cost effective basis - that expertise will remain firmly in the hands of the foreigners involved. The new systems will therefore have a very short useful life span, which means no economic payback for the hefty front loaded $30 million price tag. It's much like all of our government's borrowings for the padded costs of new buildings that are not maintained once built, and therefore quickly fall into a deplorable state.

4) Some lucky muck-a-muck crony of our political elite is going to end up getting a chunk of the padding built into the over-priced $30 million contract. The lucky crony will likely be set up as an unnecessary intermediary in the purchase of whatever equipment will be installed. Of course the crony will kick back something to the FNM party.

And various scenarios of the above go on all the time because of the insatiable borrowing appetite of our corrupt politicians who love nothing more than to have the lending teat ("tit") of an international lending agency placed at their constantly sucking lips.

This is how the U.S. government goes about meddling in our internal affairs, much to the detriment of the interests of the Bahamian people. Just look at what U.S. foreign policy did to the Venezuelan people over a couple of decades, simply because the Venezuelan people did not want to turn over control and most of the profits from their vast oil reserves to the U.S. oil companies like Chevron and Exon. And that's the type of unfair game the U.S. government and its deep stated connected corporate interests play over and over again all over the world.

Remember all of that IDB money that was borrowed to buy new systems to modernize our Passport Office. Symonette was the cabinet minister responsible for our Passport Office at the time. Where did that get us? The Passport Office today is as bad, if not worse, than it ever was in terms of the service it delivers to the Bahamian public. The same applies to most of our governments' many IDB and other ILA borrowings over the years, all falsely promising to upgrade government systems, processes and services that most Bahamians find have never been worse or more costly.

And didn't Minnis, like Christie before him, solemnly promise us that our VAT dollars would go towards actually paying down the total amount of our national debt as opposed to just reducing its uncontrollable rate of growth as a result of unnecessary borrowings borne out of corruption at the highest levels of government?!

Brace yourselves fellow Bahamians; both Minnis and Turnquest truly believe that VAT should be as high as 20%, notwithstanding its terribly regressive nature and most harmful and cruel effects on lower and middle class Bahamian families, and all small and medium size local businesses. Minnis is indeed a horribly nasty and arrogant monster!

But I recall the e-govt of 20 years ago, cannot recall using it for anything. I remember a CRT terminal in the office to get police certificate. There was a printed sign that, "Once you fill in the form, we will send you an email to say it is ready". When 6 months? a year from then? I smiled and took my place in the line. I have not seen any more terminal there ever since.

As for the VAT, Peter Turnquest already mentioned the 'harmonization of vat rates' as a goal of the EU.
I suspect it is to harmonize to 15%

[http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/mar…]

> Revealing that the Government was
> still on alert for developing
> international regulatory initiatives,
>
> Mr Turnquest identified such initiatives as the taxation of
> electronic and digital transactions,
> plus the harmonisation of VAT rates,

In the late 1990's I had a boss who wanted us to have a 'paperless office', but it had to be done with the existing computers and software, what a joke.

[1]: http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/mar…

And this new passport snafu is happening all over the world.

The new software does not migrate data from the previous systems, so you are not "renewing your passport" you are getting a new one and need the documents all over again.

some people even need grandparents or parents birth certificates, so added bureocracy to find those things.

The thing is that the government doesn't know what they don't know and Kwasi is at the top of the list. His paper-shuffling and do-nothing approach hasn't landed us a GB tech hub. And now they are talking about copying Estonia for eGovernment. Sigh.