MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
BRADLEY B. ROBERTS
TOPIC: CENTRAL BANK OF THE BAHAMAS ACT, 2000
Madame speaker, I rise on behalf of the reinvigorated Grants Town Constituency, to make a brief contribution to the Bill for an act to repeal the Central Bank of The Bahamas Act, to be replaced with a Bill to be cited as The Central Bank of the Bahamas Act 2000. Madame speaker, since we last met my Party held its 43rd Annual General Convention, under the theme, “A Fresh is Blowing” with “Opportunity, Prosperity and Security for All.” Madame speaker, it was indeed the mother of all conventions for the PLP. My Party’s Convention when contrasted to the FNM Party’s Convention, was akin to equating chalk to cheese. My Party’s Convention was substantially more informative and in fact radically different in a positive nature.
Madame speaker, the interest and attention by the Bahamian people for my Party’s Convention was significantly great or should I say, greater than for the FNM Party’s Convention. Madame speaker, the Leader of the Official Opposition in his keynote address gave the greatest speech heretofore of his lifetime. We in the PLP give thanks to Almighty God for His inspiration and blessings and we look forward with great anticipation to the return of the PLP as the Government of the Bahamas. Indeed a fresh wind is blowing.
Madame speaker, I note however with interest that the governing FNM Party has only taken public issue with one item of contention that arose from my Party’s Convention. That issue Madame speaker, was one that was raised by the PLP Member of Parliament for St. Cecilia, regarding National Insurance Pension Benefits. With that being the case Madame speaker, are we to assume that the government agrees with all the other issues raised by other speakers? Or are we too assume that the issues Bahamians consider to be serious only finds the Government contemptuous towards these public concerns? Or is it a case of the government really having no rebuttal to the issues raised, so since the PLP spoke the unadulterated truth, what more can they say? Madame speaker, the people need to know why only a response to the Member for St. Cecilia and no response for all the other matters from other speakers?
Madame speaker, the series of Bills that we have been debating since July of this year, finds money laundering, tax evasion and drug trafficking as the main planks for which these Bills are motivated when we look at our financial services and the views of international agencies towards the same.
Madame speaker, as a result of this motivation for such legislation I have had reason to bring forth activities that have been going on in Long Island concerning drug trafficking and the very possibility that money laundering could be the apparatus by which drug traffickers who are seeking to open up a hotel and marina, will use the money gained from nefarious activities of illegal drugs.
Madame speaker, as a result of my revelations, it seems the real issue has gotten lost by the Fourth Estate, the print media. For the most part the media has concentrated on what they think I should not have done and the demeanor of the messenger, who so happens to be myself.
Madame speaker, it is through all of this that right thinking Bahamians must be longing for the days of the 80’s when the print media was relentless at investigating any and all claims made by the then-Opposition concerning what they claimed was complicity on the part of the PLP Government in allowing drug traffickers to roam free and unimpeded with their drugs through this land.
Madame speaker, it is during times like these that all right thinking Bahamians have to be wishing that it was the PLP in power now, so that the print media would be running stories ad-nauseum about what their further investigations on the subject of drug trafficking has revealed. Madame speaker, if only the PLP was in power now, then maybe concerned Bahamians would hear how patriotic and upright the accuser is no matter how strong and vociferous a message the accuser may be hurling at the PLP Government. Yes Madame speaker, if only it was the PLP in power now, the print media would care less at how the messenger delivers his message. All that would matter is that he gets the job done!
Yes Madame speaker, if only it was the PLP Government that was sitting back and ignoring and lying about the knowledge of activities in Long Island, then we would see the print media really do its job and further investigate what is going on in Long Island, especially since this present government obviously doesn’t want to talk about it. Unfortunately Madame speaker, this is not the PLP Government, this is the FNM Government.
Regrettably Madame speaker, this is not the PLP Government, it is the FNM Government. The government that is beloved by the merchant class, beloved by the chosen few in the country and beloved by the print media. It is a sad commentary that I as the messenger have to suffer the guile of the print media because of my revelations about Long Island and this government. Madame speaker, it is sad, if only for concerned citizens, that all the print media can focus on is my demeanor as the messenger.
Madame speaker, it is a shame that the same media who criticizes me for my approach, seems to forget how relentless, obsessed and even foaming at the mouth they were at using their newspaper to print news everyday during the eighties about the PLP Government and drug trafficking. Those were the days when they looked under every nook and cranny. Those were the days when the media would follow a ghost if they heard it had information about the PLP government! Madame speaker, it is a shame that the print media hasn’t endorsed a Commission Of Inquiry for corruption and drug trafficking against this government as they so readily and consistently did during the 80’s.
Madame speaker, I want the print media to know, and those in particular know who I am talking to, I want them to know that I am today just as vociferous as they were in the 80’s! I am today just as unbecoming as they were during the 80’s! I am today just as obsessed as they were during the 80’s! And Madame speaker, if I am as they claim, unbalanced in my assertions then I am just as unbalanced as they were back in the 80’s! If I am all of these things they claim me to be, then I am just like they were back in the 80’s when it was a PLP Government. The only difference is I am doing it for my own people, not for the benefit of others and certainly not for myself!
Madame speaker, if the print media needs for me to do their job, or if they are politically unwilling to do their job, then they should not complain when I do it for them and in my way! So to the media, who only feels uncomfortable with the FNM Government every blue moon, I say, if you consider my behavior over the drug trafficking in Long Island and other assertions of corruption I raise about the FNM Government to be of a repugnant nature, I say to you stay tuned because the best of my repugnant behavior is yet to come!
Madame speaker, I would hope that this mild chastisement of the print media, would be taken as motivation for them to tighten up their boot-straps because they do attempt to cover the news. But they do not do enough investigating once they are given a lead, whether from Parliament or from the general citizenry.
However Madame speaker, I do not expect the Nassau Guardian to take what I have just said in the vein that I have said it because the Guardian does not rate as the print media in my mind. The Nassau Guardian in my mind Madame speaker, rates as prophecy being fulfilled, when the Lord Jesus Christ told us that in the last days there would be men of reprobate minds, men who had no problem with calling wrong-right and right-wrong and men who would even try to lead God’s very-elect astray with false teaching and false reports.
Madame speaker, it can only be reprobate for an editor of a newspaper to disregard the honest work of reporters, by nullifying their stories because the stories are complimentary about someone he personally dislikes, or because the reporter’s story doesn’t depict his paymasters in the light that he thinks they should. And even worst Madame speaker, is when an editor will not print the assertions of an accuser but will print the reply of the accused.
Madame speaker, too many the times the Nassau Guardian has done this and again it was done on my contribution in Parliament during the Financial Intelligence Unit Act, where what I said was not printed but the reply of the maximum leader of the FNM was printed. And Madame speaker, when I questioned the editor last weekend about his bias, like the devil he showed his complete insolence and disdain to that which is fair! He scoffed at the idea that I could even imagine him to be in the news business to be fair!
Madame speaker, if for no other reason, I pray to God, and by any means necessary, to rid the hard working reporters at the Guardian of the Pharaoh in their midst, so they can be proud again about their efforts at being good journalist, who are not sullied by the perverse mindset of one who must oversee their work.
Madame speaker, the Bill before us today is part and parcel of a package of Bills forecasted by the government that when enacted would lead to the removal of the blacklisting of the Bahamas. But Madame speaker, I have my doubts on the likelihood of that happening. And I have expressed that view previously. Madame speaker, I believe that the high level of mistrust by the United States and the other international regulatory bodies for this government will be a major contributing factor to us remaining blacklisted until we do everything they ask of us. And more.
Madame speaker, one of the provisions of this Bill is to expand the powers of the Central Bank to respond to requests from overseas regulatory authorities for information that they need to perform their own functions. Madame speaker, I am advised that of the hundreds of requests from international agencies submitted to the Attorney- General’s Office during the past several years, those request for various reasons had been denied. However Madame speaker, I have been advised that with the complicity of the government, information previously requested has in the past few months been provided to the various international regulatory bodies. Madame speaker, I am obliged to ask, under what law was the Government of the Bahamas and its agencies authorized to provide this information previously denied?
Madame speaker, the various laws to address the serious issue of blacklisting, all except for one, has yet to be enacted. Likewise the pending legislation when enacted will provide the authority to various government agencies as I understand it to comply with any and all legitimate request. Therefore Madame speaker, I ask again, why has the FNM Government, who use to boast about being a lawful government, acted in the matter of these request in defiance of the existing law? Madame speaker, this has got to be the most bizarre thing I have ever heard of! Madame speaker, this would not even make sense if it was written into a movie script where one can make scenes of the movie to fit the ending! Madame speaker, who in their right mind would break an existing law in order to comply with a new law that is yet to be in existence?
Madame speaker, if foreign agencies through pressure can force this FNM government to break existing laws, it must leave a bitter taste in the mouths of all patriotic Bahamians because it tells us clearly that foreign agencies consider us to be criminals anyway, so if we break our laws to their benefit so be it! Likewise Madame speaker, it also tells us what they think about our now theoretical view of sovereignty. Madame speaker, because we claim to subscribe to the rule of law, the Government of the Bahamas cannot be allowed to be lawless. All lawless persons who with deliberate intent use their power mandated by law to in fact break the law should without reservation suffer the full brunt of the law. Madame speaker, while we can only hope that lawless persons whether in government or private life would be subject to the law, we cannot in today’s climate believe that anyone would be made to pay for the government’s deliberate intent to break the law. It cannot happen Madame speaker, because there is in fact no precedent set by this government to prove that lawless persons in government would be made to pay.
Madame speaker, I cite for example, on November 6, 2000, the DPM appeared on Love 97’s Face Off and in responding to a question by a caller said:
(READ QUOTE FROM INTERVIEW)
Madame speaker, I was not shocked by this statement by the DPM because he has the uncanny ability to tell the truth by mistake. However Madame speaker, what the DPM had to say confirmed what I have been saying and did in fact assert during my contribution to the 2000 Throne Speech. Madame speaker, you may recall that in June of this year during the Budget Debate I spoke of my statements during the Speech From The Throne about the Central Bank Report Volume No. 9 dated February 2000, where I cited certain aspects of that report which simply failed to support the growing self-adulation which this government at that time was heaping non-stop upon itself. Madame speaker, I pointed out that total tourist expenditure in 1998 was lower than 1997 and even lower than 1996.
Madame speaker, I further pointed out that some economic growth came from other sectors such as real estate, the financial services sector and construction. Likewise Madame speaker, I stated that in view of the cold hard statistics, one must wonder if the evidence of an increase in the drug trade throughout the Bahamas had in fact boosted the economy of the Bahamas? Well Madame speaker, because of the DPM’s revelations on Love 97’s Face Off, we no longer have to wonder if narco-dollars are fueling our economy. The DPM stated clearly that drug money is causing construction to prosper on a daily basis, which means persons are finding work which in turn means persons have more money to spend in the economy.
Madame speaker, the DPM has revealed that it is narco-dollars that is creating the magic of their theme better now and better to come! Or as it is being said on the streets about the FNM Government, “drugs now and more drugs to come!” Yes Madame speaker, the large sums of money placed in the construction of buildings according to the DPM, is what keeps this country liquid on a daily basis. In reality Madame speaker, this should be of no surprise because it is just a fact that large sums of money is parallel to large quantities of drugs when there is a government that will support whatever is politically expedient. The equation is kept simple under the FNM Government, more drugs-more of a boost in a false economy. And to think Madame speaker, when I made my revelations during the Throne Speech, the Member for Holy Cross had the nerve to attempt some weak and scatter-logical rebuttal in his attempts to discredit my charges of narco-dollars boosting up the economy. Madame speaker, I wonder what he has to say now? Madame speaker, I wonder what scatter brain rebuke he will heap on the DPM about his statement? I wait with bated breath to hear from the Member for Holy Cross.
Madame speaker, why the DPM felt the need to confirm what I had asserted by his statement on Love 97’s Face Off is beyond me because notwithstanding the government’s prior assertion to the contrary, earlier this year Asst. Commissioner, Mr. Reginald Ferguson had already told us what time it was concerning narco-dollars. Madame speaker, you may recall that the Asst. Commissioner in his public statements said:
“Money laundering and the proceeds from drug trafficking has distorted the Bahamian economy with the result that it now appears healthier than it really is. Indirectly it has provided jobs for people, patronized businesses, donated to the poor and cultivated in some parts a criminal minded environment comprised of persons indirectly but knowingly living off the proceeds of crime. Too many of us entertain criminals who create seemingly prosperous legitimate businesses to conceal illegitimate operations. They’ve flaunted extravagant lifestyles and use this attractiveness as a recruitment program for criminals. These illicit acts paint a false picture of our genuine job percentage, the steady growth of entrepreneurship in our country and the rapid growth in our economy. With such a blurred picture, a country is unable to accurately determine the true measure of its development and in this regard can cripple any government’s bona fide attempt to make proper adjustment’s.”
Madame speaker, the statements by the Asst. Commissioner were not only accurate to a tee but likewise prophetic. And when we look at what is currently happening in Long Island, who knows? Maybe when he made these statements he was telling the DPM to get his act together because the jig was up. But instead Madame speaker, I believe the DPM sort to blame a mindset of Bahamian society for the inundation of narco-dollars when he made his bizarre statements on Love 97. But as God would have it the DPM ended up confessing. Poetic justice, Madame speaker.
However Madame speaker, now that the government, through the DPM and Minister of National Security acknowledging that narco-dollars are a major contributor to the current so-called boom, boom, boom in our economy, what action is the government of the Bahamas going to take? Certainly Madame speaker, locking up all the drug dealers without locking up those in this place who facilitate them cannot be the answer. Madame speaker, the alarming acknowledgement of the DPM must be dealt with because I believe this is a major reason why we have been blacklisted. Madame speaker, not only has the DPM confirmed what foreign entities already know, but he was brassy enough to confirm by his inaction that the government has no intentions of their own will to doing anything about it. Hence Madame speaker, we ended up with a gun to our heads by foreign governments, which is the prime motivation for Bills such as this one we are discussing today.
Madame speaker, I have been saying it for quite some time and so I repeat it again. I do not believe this FNM Government possesses the moral authority to clean up the mess that we are in and this is why I repeat that I do not see the Bahamas being removed from our blacklisting status anytime soon, because weekly we witness more stipulations being placed on this country. To add insult to injury, the DPM admitted failure of the Tracing and Forfeiture Act because only a few cases were brought to bear. Madame speaker, why hasn’t there been more cases brought under this Act? Does the government lack the will because of the political fall out? Does this lack of will for political reasons leave the government feeling duty bound to continue to grant building permits and concessions as the DPM said, to who they know or have strong reason to believe are involved in drug trafficking and money laundering?
Likewise Madame speaker, I repeat again that this government in totality should resign from Office. And this Madame speaker, is a fair statement to make because either its resign or risk being jailed by the very laws being enacted under the cloud of blacklisting.
Madame speaker, the ballooning of our economy to its false boom, boom status as a result of drug trafficking, is starting to show up in the cold hard statistics available to us today. Madame speaker, the Central Bank Summary of monthly money and credit aggregates for September 2000, when compared to September of 1999, appear to suggest that they were not months of economic development for our country.
Madame speaker, I cite for you a few examples:
1.EXTERNAL RESERVES FELL BY 5%
2.WHILE EXTERNAL RESERVES WERE FALLING, THE TOTAL FOREIGN DEBT INCREASED BY ALMOST 10% TO $495 MILLION FROM $456 MILLION. Madame speaker, I submit to you that this is a terrible combination.
3.DESPITE THIS FALL OFF IN EXTERNAL RESERVES, DOMESTIC PRIVATE SECTOR CREDIT (LED BY CONSUMER CREDIT) GREW BY ALMOST 15% TO MORE THAN $3 BILLION DOLLARS. Madame speaker, consumer credit cannot be the road which leads to sustainable economic development.
4.BANK LIQUIDITY ACCORDING TO THE REPORT FELL TO $91.3 MILLION FROM $131.3 MILLION. A FALL OFF OF SOME 30%
Madame speaker, this clearly suggests that liquidity in the economy is getting tighter.
On another note Madam speaker, I have a few questions for the Minister of Finance regarding the old Malcolm House located at Frederick Streets and Princess Slope:
1.WILL THE MINISTER INFORM THIS PARLIAMENT HOW MUCH MONEY DID THE CENTRAL BANK PAY FOR THE MALCOLM PROPERTY?
2.TO WHOM WAS THE MONEY PAID TO?
3.WOULD THE MINISTER ALSO INFORM THIS PARLIAMENT WHAT WAS THE ORIGINAL PRICE THAT THE PROPERTY COULD HAVE BEEN PURCHASED FOR?
4.WOULD THE MINISTER EXPLAIN WHY THEY DIDN’T PURCHASE THE PROPERTY INITIALLY?
Madam Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not embrace this opportunity to again raise the most important issue that is of major concern to Bahamians who borrow money. That issue is the spread between deposits and lending rates of interest by many of our Domestic Banks. The Member for North Abaco said in Parliament on July 20, 1994, more than six years ago that his government was concerned, but so was the International Monetary Fund.
Madam Speaker, I repeat, more than six years and four months has elapsed ‘aint’ nothing happen. It is a clear example that the member for North Abaco’s word in many cases means nothing. He had an opportunity to strike a blow for the poor? But what did he do, he turned his back on struggling Bahamians. Madam Speaker, I again ask as I have asked, in whose back pocket is whom?
Madam Speaker. The Central Bank of the Bahamas quarterly economic review June 2000 disclosed that average loan interest rates charged by domestic banks for the quarter to June 2000 was 11.62%. The average interest paid by depositors during the said quarter was 4.0% (1162 – 400=762). The differential between the average loan interest rate and the average interest rate paid to depositors was 7.62% commonly referred to as the average net interest spread. In 1997 the spread was 7.44%.
Madam Speaker, the Central bank quarterly economic report of June 2000 states that the reason for the increase in the net interest spread for the quarter was “credit conditions influenced a widening in the net interest spread on loans and deposits”.
Madam Speaker, it should be abundantly clear to all Bahamians that this FNM government has absolutely no intention of removing the banking yoke from the backs of poor and struggling Bahamians. This government has had more than six years to release our people from the strangle hold many of the banks have on our people.
Madam Speaker, the average net interest spread
In the USA is 2.6%
In Canada is 2.7%
In Barbados is 4.4%
In Belize is 4.0%
In Britain is 4.0%
In the Bahamas is 7.62%
Madam Speaker, what I find to be most disturbing is that the majority of the Domestic banks are Canadian owned. The average net interest spread in Canada is 2.7%. If the Canadians can live with a spread of 2.7%, how can one in good conscience accept that it is fair for Bahamians to be burdened with a spread of 7.62 or 2.82 times that of Canada? This cannot be right. I again demand that this government moves posthaste in removing this massive burden from the backs of our people. There cannot be any justification for this to be allowed to continue.
Madam Speaker, to sum up the continued expansion in the net interest spread simply means that the level of domestic banks profits continue to grow by leaps and bounds. When will this madness end?
TRANSFER OF LOANS BETWEEN BANKING INSTITUTIONS
Madam Speaker, the Member for North Abaco with a great deal of enthusiasm , promised the Bahamian people again on July 20, 1994 in this Parliament and I quote “ not long from now, after careful review the government will put forward a package of consumer legislation that will take into account the views of all in society”. To include a provision that would permit borrowers to transfer mortgages between financial institutions at minimum cost. Six years plus have gone by “tain” nothing happen yet! Another empty FNM promise. This is yet another example of the Member for North Abaco failure to deliver on a promise that is of great importance to many Bahamians.
Madam Speaker, has someone hijacked the promise package of consumer legislation? They have yet to see the light of day in this place. FNM’s promises are indeed a comfort to a fool!.
Madam Speaker, we have 500 plus lawyers on the roles today. Lawyers have demanded a long overdue change in banks and mortgage companies allowing only certain select lawyers to do the lion share of mortgage lending work. Again on July 20, 1994 the Prime Minister promised that by the time August 1997 came along the FNM wouldn’t have left behind the same problem in relation to what lawyers and others complained about.
August 1997 has come and long gone, August 1998 has also come and gone and we are virtually knocking on the doors of 2001. Our illustrious Maximum Leader must be the most promising person in the Bahamas. He is long on promises by woefully short on delivery. I want all those struggling lawyers to know that despite this FNM government’s promise to address this long overdue reform. The FNM is contented to allow the rich to get richer and that is a fact, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, on July 18, 1994 I brought to this Parliament’s attention that for almost thirty-six years the rates fixed by the Central Bank to sell and purchase foreign currency, US$ in particular has remained unchanged.
Clearly Madam Speaker, it is time for this entrenched position to be reviewed. It is an area for strong profits for commercial banks. The consumer badly needs a respite in this critical area.
I am of the view that the profit margin in this sector should be reduced by a minimum of 50%. Such a reduction would lower the cost on all imports in our land. Madam speaker, my pleas has fallen on deaf ears.
Madam speaker, I also disclosed to this House on July 18, 1994 that the cost associated with purchasing U.S.$ drafts and money orders are excessive and borders on the ridiculous.
Madam Speaker, you and I can walk into an American Express Moneygram office or any other sellers in the U.S.A. with a hundred U.s. Dollars and can purchase a money order for $100 U.S.$ and simply pay a fee of 39 cents.
In the Bahamas the cost to purchase a U.S. draft or money order for U.S.$100 is $108.77.
A $500 U.S. dollar draft or money order will cost $519.85 and American Express money order for $500 will cost $500.39.
Madam Speaker this major difference in cost cannot be justified and should have been changed a long time ago. Again Madam Speaker, this so called caring FNM government has not lifted a finger to correct these injustices to our people. It is a shame and disgrace. Madam, Speaker I wish for it to be known that a new PLP government will without delay remove these burdens from the backs of our people.
Madame speaker, I conclude by saying what is appropriate for this Bill, the previous Bills and those to come as a result from the blacklisting crisis. It is appropriate Madame speaker that it be known that the cause of a problem can never be the solution of the problem. So while we must think country first in the passing of such pressure-pieces of legislation, I also have a duty to inform the Bahamian people that I don’t see much good coming from these Bills and its not because I am opposed to the substance of these Bills. But it is because I am opposed to the lack of substance of this government.
Madame speaker, the Bahamian people have no reason to have any trust in this government. Madame speaker, the Bahamian people have no reason logical or illogical, to believe that this government has even the faintest idea about how to get us out of this mess they put the country in. Madame speaker, this government cannot possibly get us out of this mess because the solution calls for honesty! The solution calls for intelligence! The solution calls for unity, not just the dictates of one man, who cannot even properly pronounce the names of the foreign officials he has met!
No Madame speaker, the country cannot expect this one- man government to get us out of the mess he put us in. Madame speaker, the truth of the matter is we are doomed under this FNM Government and all we can only hope for now is that we are not forced to take a foreign country as our citizenship where the Bahamas will belong to them.
Yes Madame speaker, we have to hope that we are still the Bahamas and not a State of America or again a colony of Europe, long enough for the next general elections to come and the PLP regains the government. For it is only then that dignity will be returned to Bahamians. And it is only then that foreign entities will respect us because they will find that we are not only honest but intelligent too.
Madame speaker, this is a sad set of circumstances we face today because of the Member for North Abaco. But even though many Bahamians are terribly disappointed, why should we really be surprised? For God did say in the Book of Proverbs Chap. 19 verse 10, that IT DOESN’T SEEM RIGHT FOR A FOOL TO SUCCEED OR FOR A SLAVE TO RULE OVER PRINCES.
Madame speaker, when we think about this truism, the fact of the matter is if it were not for God’s grace and mercy, it would really be amazing that we have managed to even survive since 1992.
MADAME SPEAKER, AS ALWAYS, I THANK YOU ON BEHALF OF THE GRANTS TOWN CONSTITUENCY