By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas leads the Latin American and Caribbean region for paying "bribes of convenience" to public officials so that "things are done more quickly or better", it was revealed yesterday.

Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer study of the region provided a damning indictment of the civil service by disclosing that 41 percent of Bahamians surveyed admitted to making such under-the-table payments to ensure they could access public services.

Lemarque Campbell, a Bahamian attorney and anti-corruption activist, told Tribune Business that Transparency International's latest research showed that the Bahamian people were rapidly "losing faith" in the Minnis administration's pre-election pledge to combat and root out corruption.

Noting that 65 percent of Bahamians surveyed last year had expressed optimism that the government was delivering on its crackdown and "doing well", Mr Campbell said this position had now been reversed with 52 percent of respondents to this year's report saying it was "doing badly" in the battle against corruption and graft.

He added that the latest Transparency International survey also highlighted that Bahamians were "losing trust" in governance and the integrity of their public institutions, a dangerous development for any democracy, with many of the government's anti-corruption legislative initiatives having seemingly stalled since it took office in May 2017.

While Bahamians last year identified "rent seeking" as occurring most often in their dealings with the police, the latest survey now placed MPs and government officials at the top when persons were asked whether "most or all people in these institutions are corrupt".

Mr Campbell added that the results, obtained from 1,007 telephone interviews with Bahamians conducted by the Public Domain polling firm earlier this year, also revealed that the proportion of Bahamians paying a bribe within the past 12 months had doubled compared to Transparency International's survey of The Bahamas last year.

While the 2018 survey found that one in ten Bahamians, or ten percent, admitted to paying a bribe during the prior year, that percentage rose to 20 percent - one in five - for the 2019 survey, indicating that the graft culture is getting worse rather than improving.

And The Bahamas was also ranked second in the Latin American and Caribbean region for "sextortion", with 24 percent of Bahamians revealing they had personally been - or knew someone who had been - asked for sexual favours in return for receiving public services including health and education. Only Barbados, at 30 percent, achieved a worse ranking.

The Prime Minister himself previously estimated that corruption costs The Bahamas around $200m per year, although he has provided no empirical evidence to support this, and Mr Campbell yesterday argued that Hurricane Dorian's devastation has left the Government with "no option" but to seriously tackle corruption as a means to mitigate the massive financial blow to the nation.

Describing the latest Transparency International findings as "a good report card" to measure The Bahamas' progress in combating corruption-related crime, Mr Campbell suggested the results appeared "a bit mixed".

"It gives a really good indication of how the Minnis administration is performing in delivering upon their anti-corruption promises since being elected two years ago," he told Tribune Business. "There are definitely some highlights and problem areas where The Bahamas was the leader - not just in the Caribbean, but the whole of Latin America."

The Transparency International report covers 18 nations, including corruption-riddled states such as Venezuela and five Caribbean countries, which includes Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana.

Among the most troubling findings was that The Bahamas ranks ahead of crisis-torn Venezuela for paying "bribes of convenience", with 41 percent of Bahamians admitting to this compared to the 21 percent Latin American and Caribbean average.

Such bribes were described as payments "to get things done more quickly or better", meaning that they were intended to facilitate "queue jumping" at Bahamian government agencies and/or to obtain permits, approvals and documents (passports, driver's licences, Immigration cards) when applicants did not have all the supporting paperwork required or are here illegally.

"Interestingly, only 33 percent of bribe payers report having been asked to pay, while 20 percent say that although not explicitly asked, they knew that an informal payment is expected," Transparency International said of its regional findings.

The results provide an insight into how every day, low-level forms of corruption have seemingly become routine and ingrained in Bahamian culture. These include the practices of "buying public officials lunch" to ensure they perform functions they are already paid to do, plus more lavish gifts and payments depending on what is being sought and the associated difficulty,

Mr Campbell said that besides ensuring proper monitoring mechanisms were in place, The Bahamas also needed to "enforce legislation" already on the books to combat such corruption and send a signal to both perpetrator and public official that they will be properly punished if found guilty.

"Our biggest downfall is we don't enforce any infractions against corruption as much as we should be doing," he told Tribune Business. "It goes to the inefficiency of the public service sector where that's just the way it is, and where people feel they have to pay to get these basic public services.

"Those services should be guaranteed to any citizen or any resident that's here in The Bahamas. It's frustrating. It's frustrating for the citizens who just want to get basic services and for the big corporate person who wants to get services done on behalf of his company. That says a lot when you think about certain countries like Venezuela, where corruption is rampant, and we are higher."

Mr Campbell described the 80 percent of Bahamians who believe corruption is a major problem in this country as another "key finding". He added: "That goes back to another result, where 52 percent of people think the Government is doing a bad job in tackling corruption.

"Last year 65 percent were more optimistic and felt that they were doing well in fighting corruption, but now we see that reversed. The honeymoon period is over, people are losing faith in the election promise of corruption mitigation."

Mr Campbell said fighting corruption "goes hand in hand" with the Government's stated objective of improving the "ease of doing business", but while there was heavy focus on the latter goal there was little talk about the former.

He added that MPs and government officials were the institutions perceived by Bahamians where "most or all people are corrupt", and said: "The policymakers need to wake up and see what the people are facing and experiencing, because 2022 is around the corner and campaign season."

The Transparency International survey also disclosed that 17 percent of Bahamians reported being offered bribes in exchange for their vote at general elections, and Mr Campbell continued: "Over the last four terms of government promises have been made but there has been a lack of delivery on those promises to carry the Government forward.

"It goes back to people losing trust in government; that's the biggest downfall. We have solutions that have been repeated ad nauseum." While praising the Government for passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act and moving to implement electronic procurement for public sector contracts, Mr Campbell said there was a host of other legislation that needed attention.

Besides the Freedom of Information Act's reform and enactment, he identified campaign finance reform, the Integrity Commission Bill and protection of whistleblowers, and reform of the Public Disclosures Act as key areas in need of attention.

"Everyone knows what needs to be done but we're not seeing any action to implement these policies," Mr Campbell told Tribune Business. "Even last week I went to government publications to ask for a summary of the latest disclosures under the Public Disclosures Act. The last ones they have are for 2011."

These disclosures deal with every MP's financial viability, including their income and a summary of assets and liabilities. They are required by law to be filed every year and published via the government Gazzette, but this has not been done for eight years.

"The Government really doesn't have an option any more as to whether or not to tackle corruption issues, especially in the wake of Hurricane Dorian," Mr Campbell added. "Given the drastic shortfall in government revenue to come as a result of the hurricane, the Government must definitely mitigate the bleeding of public funds spurred by corrupt acts.

"Also, in the same vein, as the Government continues to receive considerable funds through international aid for the restoration process, the Government has a duty to make sure that the proper anti-corruption policies are developed and enforced, most importantly, to ensure that the funds from aid are going to where they were intended."