The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

HOUSE Speaker Dr Kendal Major said he intends to bring closure to matters related to concerns about the legality of the Public Accounts Committee’s actions during its probe of Urban Renewal 2.0 when Parliament reconvenes today.

And, although the Public Accounts Committee’s two government members are out of town, PAC chairman, St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman, says he plans to go ahead with the committee’s Thursday morning meeting in their absence.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, Dr Major said he had been quiet on the matter as he awaited advice from a consultant on the way forward. He expected to receive that opinion last night.

Meanwhile, Mr Chipman likened the status of the PAC’s probes into the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) and Urban Renewal to a “parked car”, as he criticised government members for delaying the process.

However, the St Anne’s MP told The Tribune that he planned to go ahead with a PAC meeting scheduled for 10am Thursday, although the two government representatives will be away. Elizabeth MP Ryan Pinder, who said he would be out of town, asked for a postponement. On Sunday, Golden Gates MP Shane Gibson told The Tribune he was heading to Argentina.

“This is the problem now with quorums. It is very much like we are sitting in a parked car on these matters,” said the PAC chairman.

However, Mr Chipman plans to go ahead with the planned meeting because in addition to himself, the other two members, Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn, and East Grand Bahama Peter Turnuest, are in town and plan to attend. This will give Mr Chipman the needed quorum of three.

Last month, an unsigned document, dated April 21, which claimed it was from the Office of the Attorney General and represented “the advice of eminent attorneys of international and national stature” was leaked to the press. It purported to give its opinion about the legality of the PAC’s actions as it investigated Urban Renewal. However, it did not name the “eminent attorneys.”

The “leaked” document said the PAC’s exercise of power in summoning the Urban Renewal co-chairs to appear for questioning was “procedurally flawed, contrary to the statutory and constitutional principles regulating public finances, and raises the spectre of interference with the constitutional functions of the auditor general.”

In addition, the legal opinion claimed that the PAC lacked the power to request that the auditor general conduct specific audits of government departments or other bodies and that attempts to apply this power runs contrary to the “constitutional functions and special immunity given to the auditor general under the Constitution.”

The “legal opinion” was leaked after Mr Chipman said he would subpoena Urban Renewal Co-Chairs Cynthia “Mother” Pratt and Algernon Allen when they refused to appear before a scheduled hearing with the PAC concerning the specifics of a scathing audit.

Dr Major has said he was shocked and taken aback by the unprecedented “legal opinion”.

The controversial report prepared by Auditor General Terrance Bastian into Urban Renewal’s Small Home Repairs Programme notes that payments to 11 contractors for more than $170,000 of work was not completed or done, that there was no competitive bidding for the home repair contracts and the contractors were not required to have proof of all-risk insurance. Meanwhile, the auditor’s report on Urban Renewal found that the programme’s internal controls were “weak,” leaving the initiative open to “abuse.”