Claims by Iranian businessman Mohammed Harajchi that he was a major financier of the Progressive Liberal Party\uffb4s 2002 general election campaign have pushed the issue of campaign finance reform back into the spotlight.<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Harajchi claimed that he financed the election campaign of the Progressive Liberal Party to the tune of $10 million. But he has not been able to prove it and the prime minister has denied that Mr. Harajchi contributed that much.<\/P><\/p>\n
Free National Movement Leader Senator Tommy Turnquest said Thursday the PLP was \uff93obviously prepared to do anything to win.\uff92 \uffa0<\/P><\/p>\n
Acknowledging that elections are very expensive in The Bahamas, Mr. Turnquest said those who are offering for public office should have the integrity to take money from reputable sources.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93It has to be all encompassing where you look at not just the donors, but how much the politicians are able to spend,\uff92 said Mr. Turnquest, who was contacted by the Bahama Journal for comment. \uff93If we do it in that fashion, it would really be worthwhile.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
This is not the first time the FNM leader has called into question the source of the money used to finance the PLP\uffb4s election campaign in 2002.<\/P><\/p>\n
Less than a year after the election, he alleged that the PLP had used drug money during the campaign. Although he promised to provide the evidence to prove this, more than a year and a half later, Mr. Turnquest has still not done so.<\/P><\/p>\n
Meanwhile, President of The Bahamas Bar Association Wayne Munroe said on Thursday that the ability of persons to participate in politics would be limited if a cap were put on how much money they are able to contribute to political parties.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93You have to look at it very carefully,\uff92 Mr. Munroe said. \uff93Campaign financing is not as straightforward as people think. \uffa0You have to look at the privacy issues of that too.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
In an interview with the Bahama Journal, Mr. Munroe pointed to the freedom rights enshrined in the constitution. \uffa0<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93You want to curtail my freedom to give my money to whomever I want? \uffa0If I support a party it\uffb4s because I think they\uffb4re going to act in my interest,\uff92 he said.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93I give you money for your campaign. \uffa0What\uffb4s improper about that? \uffa0The most you should have is the requirement to disclose who contributes money to you and with that come privacy issues,\uff92 Mr. Munroe said.<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Munroe added that with all the social concerns facing the country, campaign finance reform is not an issue that needs to be addressed through legislation.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93I think we have a lot more important things to pay attention to first,\uff92 he said.<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Munroe was not keen on the suggestion that The Bahamas follow in the footsteps of the United States in that the federal government gives sizable chunks of money to the major parties. \uffa0There are however caps on how much money is given.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93Somehow I don\uffb4t think that the Bahamian people want to pay for people\uffb4s campaigns out of the public treasury\uff85instead of spending money on schools, roads, hospitals and all the other things that require public funds,\uff92 Mr. Munroe said.<\/P><\/p>\n
But not everyone shares his views.<\/P><\/p>\n
PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby feels having money from the public purse allocated to finance political parties would minimize any appearance of conflict of influence peddling.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93Maybe that\uffb4s something we ought to look at. \uffa0Maybe perhaps not at the magnitude at which the Americans do it, but there ought to be some support from the public purse to political parties,\uff92 Mr. Rigby said.<\/P><\/p>\n
He said one of the things a country like The Bahamas must be \uff93careful\uff92 of is that the business of running a political campaign does not become so expensive that it dissuades persons who have a genuine interest in giving public service. \uffa0<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Rigby suggested that this might be an issue that could be discussed during the ongoing constitutional review process.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93We would be wrong to just dismiss it without talking about it and getting a sense for what the populous feels because I recognize the fact that there is a cross-section of our population who may say \uff91anybody who wishes to engage in public service at that level should be able to fund their own electoral campaigns,\uffb4\uff92 Mr. Rigby said.<\/P><\/p>\n
He noted that there are some persons who may not feel that campaign finance reform is an urgent issue as the next general election is three years away. <\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Rigby added that the PLP is \uff93happy and grateful\uff92 that Mr. Harajchi acknowledged the fact that no favour or contract was offered to him in exchange for his contribution.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93It is not illegal, inappropriate or improper for individuals to make donations to political parties in this country,\uff92 Mr. Rigby pointed out.<\/P><\/p>\n
He said there is a level of confidentiality which exists when people donate to a political cause, particularly when there is no legislative framework to protect the identity of the owner.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93So any political party in the country, given where we are now and what the culture is, would have to be very careful when it makes public the magnitude of its donations,\uff92 Mr. Rigby said. \uff93That is something that generally does not occur in The Bahamas. \uffa0<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93It is something we would have to consider when the circumstances are right and when the timing is right,\uff92 he said.<\/P><\/p>\n
In a press release Thursday, Prime Minister Perry Christie said his party planned to make public details of its accounting as it relates to Mr. Harajchi\uffb4s contributions.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93Ordinarily we would not disclose the source of campaign contributions but as Mr. Harajchi has made this a public issue we are obliged to present the detailed facts concerning his contributions as indeed we will do as soon as possible,\uff92 the prime minister said.<\/P><\/p>\n
Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal<\/B><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Free National Movement Leader Senator Tommy Turnquest said Thursday the PLP was ‘obviously prepared to do anything to win’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}