It would have appeared that since the general election of last week, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) seems to have gone about business as usual, being their usual boorish selves, seemingly unable to help themselves until the subject of forensics audits were brought up.

“Ornamental’ Allen And Pratt quit Co-Chair Roles” – The Tribune 18 May 2017

Excerpt from this article; “AS the Minnis administration prepares to have a forensic audit conducted into the Urban Renewal programme, Algernon Allen revealed yesterday that he and Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt resigned as co-chairs of the initiative last Thursday.

Mr. Allen said they have no concerns about what the audit will reveal as their role was largely ‘ornamental’, with neither he nor Mrs. Pratt having a major part in the decision-making processes of the programme.

He told The Tribune; ‘In the audit which had been conducted of Urban Renewal which was laid on the table of the House by the Speaker last year, both co-chairs were described as incidental to the whole Urban Renewal decision making process and as having limited to no authority and as being ornamental as opposed to substantive in terms of decision making.”

First, I would ask, is he referring to the same audit that was done by the Auditor General, Terrence Bastian or is this the private audit that was done by the Urban Renewal Commission, when it is determined by them that the ‘financial discrepancies’ that the Auditor General may have found may have come about because he”…..failed to appreciate the philosophy of Urban Renewal”.  Well the philosophies should not have changed so are the two co-chairs are suggesting that they are not tied to these philosophies and are only ‘figure heads’ for the program?

The problem that I am having with this is that Mr. Allen is suggesting that he and Mrs. Pratt, while they may have been aware of wrong-doing, may have been unable to act in the best interest of the public due to their limited involvement in the program; akin to an athlete endorsing KFC knowing that the eleven ‘secret’ herbs and spices are deadly but not taking any liability for this because they are only the spoke persons for KFC.    I find this type of position quite irresponsible, especially in light of the high moral standards that these two individuals claim to uphold and the way in which they fervently defended the program, which they now claim only to be figure-heads for, when the initial audit was carried out.

So now we are here; “Urban Renewal ‘Grave Concerns” – The Tribune 18 May 2017

Excerpt from this article; “IN his first day on the job, Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson expressed grave concerns regarding Urban Renewal in Grand Bahama and has suspended certain operations pending further review.

In addition to having full control of the day-to-day operations of the Ministry for Grand Bahama, Mr. Thompson also has oversight of Urban Renewal and hurricane restoration and repairs on the island.

‘Last night, I began being briefed on the status of the ministry.  Needless to say, there are some matter of great concern,’ he told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday at the Office of the Prime Minister in Grand Bahamas.”

The current approach is very promising in light of the former co-chairs tune changing from ‘there was no wrong doing’ to ‘if there was any we did not know anything about it due to our very limited involvement in the award-wining initiative’ and now the question must be asked, if Mr. Allen and Mrs. Pratt did not have a major part in the decision-making process of the programme, then who did?

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

END