“Minnis hits out at Ministers who failed to table audits” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “Free National Movement leader Dr. Hubert Minnis has criticized Cabinet ministers who have failed to table audits of government institutions as required by law, saying the issue highlights the need for greater accountability measures in government.

Dr. Minnis was responding to revelations in a Tribune article last week about gaps in the public record concerning audits of the Public Hospital Authority (PHA), the Water & Sewage Corporation (WSC), he Bahamas Broadcasting Corporation, the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation (BMC), the College of the Bahamas (COB) and the Hotel Corporation of the Bahamas.

‘The Government has shown a wanton disregard for transparency, accountability and the rule of law’ Dr. Minnis said Friday.”

With the Budget Debate set to commence in very short order and while the country is being distracted by the Gender Equality Referendum, it is my person opinion that the present government is making an attempt to distract from their current fiscal failings; as has been seen in the audit of the Department of Social Services, the Road Traffic department and the Urban Renewal Program.  It must indeed be quite embarrassing when you had hoped to speak to the success of tax reform in Value-Added Tax (VAT), as you continue to claim that it is exceeding all expectations yet there has never been a repeal in any area to aid in the lives of the average Bahamian citizen; when you seek to speak to the ‘tightening of the fiscal belt’, the reigning in of public expenditure even to the point of cutting subsidies to the College of the Bahamas, the deficit reduction but yet each and every government institution that you audit shows an ‘unexplained’ loss of public funds.

How does one present a complete and concise economic picture of the country when a lot of the economic statuses of the institutions that make up the ‘bigger picture’ have just not been provided?  It is simple, you cannot provide a clear and concise picture, so with these glaring omissions to what should be the final Budget Debate before he next General Election; a reason for the present government to prove why they should remain in power, there seem that we will still be left with more questions than answers but this has been this governments way, to provide more questions than answers while expecting not to be questioned.

Now before I am accused of misleading the public, lest I be compared to this government, let me just clarify that just because audits have not been tabled does not mean that they have not been carried out but could it be that the ministers responsible have just failed, for whatever reason to table the audits?  The obvious concern by the rest of us is that maybe something ‘bigger’ is being hidden.

The Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is within their nature.

END