While many Bahamians aren’t even earning one salary during the pandemic, Disaster Reconstruction Authority chief Kay Forbes-Smith is collecting two fat salaries as managing director of the DRA and as a local consultant and advisor for Carnival Cruise Line.
Public sector rules prohibit employees on the government payroll from working simultaneously in the private sector. However, in her greed, Forbes has refused to resign as CCL advisor.
In 2019, when she served as Senate President, Forbes said, “I’ve always been working in PR and comms strategy. I would not take a contract with any government entity, I think that would be a conflict. But anything I do in my private life in the private sector is different.”
Since those comments in 2019, Forbes has taken a contract with the government to head the DRA, which oversees rebuilding efforts on storm-ravaged Grand Bahama and Abaco.
This is a clear conflict of interest.
To make matters worse,
Carnival has come under heavy scrutiny following reports that its ships unlawfully dumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of treated sewage and more than 8,000 gallons of food waste in Bahamian waters in 2017.
Whose interests is Forbes-Smith looking out for? Carnival or the Bahamian government?
Carnival got off with a slap on the wrist but Forbes-Smith is winning all around on CCL’s payroll and the DRA’s payroll.
While she is double-dipping, Bahamian waters continue to be used as a dumping ground.