This was the view shared by Territorial At-Large Representative and Junior Trade Minister, Shereen Flax-Charles, during a recent sitting of the House of Assembly.

Relating a personal anecdote, Flax-Charles said she was previously offered a bribe in exchange for fast-tracking a businessperson’s trade license application at the Trade Department.

But the first-term legislator said she refused to take up the offer. Instead, she suggested that the person get the license legitimately.

“I can recall saying to that person, ‘My dear, I do not approve or deny trade licenses. I do not even see these trade licenses when they get to [the] Trade [Department].’ There is a process,” she related.

She then urged that legislators, as persons in authority, remain honest and careful not to fall prey to such instances.

“They are looking at it from the [perspective] that I need to get this thing fast, time is money. ‘How can I evade the system without having to go through all of this red tape?’“ Flax-Charles said of persons who make such illegal offers.

As a remedy to this, she said the government is on a mission to ensure that the services it provides are consistent and expeditious.

“That would eliminate a lot of the challenges that we are faced with and that is why we must bring every single thing online,” the Junior Trade Minster reasoned.

She added: “It eliminates a lot of the chances for persons to say, ‘listen, I need this I will give you $1,000.’ Because the process itself will be seamless and we wouldn’t necessarily have to have anyone basically, I would say, disrespecting that public official or that representative or politician.”