Former Free National Movement Cabinet Minister Carl Bethel has dismissed claims by Minister of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Maynard-Gibson that his government did not implement a $400,000 IBM contract to upgrade the Registrar General’s Office.
He said that Mrs. Maynard-Gibson’s statements were fallacies and that the IBM project was in fact implemented during the first half of 2000.
The FNM government, he said, spent a total of $390,000 with IBM during 2000 for the improvements in automation systems and to bring about improvements at the Registrar General’s Office.
Mr. Bethel said that during his tenure as Minister responsible, his ministry sought to move the office out of the “dilapidated and condemned” Rodney Bain Building.
He said that he managed to relocate some commercial operations to No 50 Shirley Street.
“The FNM invested heavily in the automation process. Negotiations were ongoing with IBM to extend this process to Deeds and Document Registration to modernize the system and get rid of the long delays and uncertainty that plagues the system and has adversely affected the property market in The Bahamas,” said Mr. Bethel.
He said that the $85,000 contract signed by the PLP Government in December 2002 was a continuation of the negotiations started under his command in September 2001.
“I commend the Minister for having, to that degree, continued the work before her assumption of office. My ‘message’ about which she took such umbrage was merely to remind the Minister that there are many other pressing needs to be addressed in the Registry, most particularly the need to get rid of the out-dated, slow and accident-prone microfilming process for deeds and documents, which can result in delays of more than a year before a title deed can be fully registered and back in the hands of the landowner,” said Mr. Bethel.
He was motivated, he said, by human concern to spur the Government into living up to the commitment to improve the working conditions for the Registrar General staff, and members of the General Public who need the services of the Registrar General’s Department.
By Vanessa C. Rolle, The Nassau Guardian
