By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FORMER National Security Minister Marvin Dames has slammed the Davis administration for allocating what he described as meagre funding to the newly established Independent Commission of Investigations and the Office of the Ombudsman, two agencies touted as tools for enhancing transparency and accountability in government.

Budget estimates for the upcoming fiscal year show just $30,000 allocated to the Independent Commission of Investigations and $39,890 to the Ombudsman’s Office.

“I have no confidence in any commission formed by the current government,” Mr Dames said. “They’re all a smokescreen.”

The Independent Commission of Investigations was created to probe serious misconduct, corruption, or irregularities involving police officers and other members of the security forces.

Its conception followed a US federal indictment that accused Bahamian law enforcement officials of assisting in cocaine smuggling. Among those arrested in Florida were Chief Superintendent Elvis Curtis and Chief Petty Officer Darren Roker, both facing drug and firearms charges.

The Ombudsman’s Office, meanwhile, is designed to act as an independent watchdog, fielding public complaints and ensuring government agencies uphold citizens’ rights. Critics argue its current funding level renders it ineffective.

Some opponents of the administration’s Independent Commission of Investigation Bill 2024 contend that a traditional Commission of Inquiry would suffice. But Mr Dames disagrees, calling instead for a fully empowered, independent investigative agency, one capable of auditing government entities, scrutinizing public contracts, and exposing corruption at its root.

“This agency should be staffed by a combination of skilled foreign fraud investigators and trained Bahamians, ensuring knowledge transfer,” he said.

“At the end of the day, you want to determine, once you carry all these audits, the audit will tell you, essentially whether you need to dig further, and the investigators will carry out the business of conducting their investigation.”

“If at the end of the day, it is found out that individuals are in fact culpable, then you have a commission or a number of judges who will deal with those. But as in its current form, we’re only playing with ourselves. We’re dealing with a compromised judicial system.”

He added that serious anticorruption work requires real financial commitment, not symbolic gestures.

“This is an opaque government, but it’s a tick-the-box government because they believe that by saying certain things, that the Bahamian people will buy into it, that they’re serious.”