The Tribune

• Cartwright ‘resents’ charge of ‘reckless behavior’

• Says Authority ‘woefully underfunded’ from get-go

• Calls for move away from ‘MPs’ recommendations’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority’s former executive chairman last night said he “resents” accusations levied against him by the Prime Minister and branded them “unfounded”.

Shanendon Cartwright, the FNM’s St Barnabas MP, told Tribune Business that Philip Davis’ allegations that he had engaged in “reckless and irresponsible behaviour” involving taxpayer monies while heading the Authority were “laughable” and reflected more on the adversarial nature of Bahamian politics than himself.

Hitting back after the Prime Minister, in kicking-off the supplemental Budget debate, said the Authority would require a near-150 percent increase in its original Budget allocation for 2021-2022, he argued that the situation requires “a larger conversation” about how much funding it should receive.

Asserting that the Authority has been “woefully under-funded” since its creation in 2014 under the last Christie administration, and does not even have a maintenance department to enable it to fulfill its obligations to the Bahamian people, Mr Cartwright again dismissed Mr Davis’ allegations that contracts had been handed out as part of “electioneering” in the months prior to the election.

Reiterating that the Authority often took until September/October each year to finalise contracts with all its vendors and contractors, he added that it would have been “poorly-led electioneering” if true given that many deals were given to Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) supporters.

Mr Cartwright, conceding that much still needs to change at the Authority, also called for an alternative to the present system were contract awards were “weighted heavily on the recommendation of MPs” as to who should get work in their constituencies. He added that, during his tenure, the agency did its best to ensure it was “fair and equitable” in spreading work to all.

The St Barnabas MP spoke out after Mr Davis, in addressing the House of Assembly, singled him out after asserting that the Authority’s spending needs had more than doubled from an initial Budget allocation of $15.2m to $37m for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

“I would be remiss if I do not speak about the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority. In the 2021-2022 fiscal year, it had an approved budget of $15.2m. After contingencies, its total budget was around $28m, an increase of 86 percent against budget. An increase that coincided with electioneering,” Mr Davis charged.

“I am now told that because of new contracts issued in the months of July, August and September of this year, the projected expenditure of the Authority for this fiscal year is $37m. That’s an increase of almost 150 percent against the budgeted amount and, in dollars, it’s an increase of $22m. I want that to sink in for a moment.

“I also want it to sink in that a number of these contracts were awarded to clean middle and high-end subdivisions, like Blair and Westridge, to name a few. The member for St Barnabas will undoubtedly have a lot of explaining to do,” the Prime Minister continued.

“As a result of this reckless and irresponsible behaviour by the member, as of September 30, 2021, after only four months into the fiscal budget the authority had already utilised almost 60 percent of its budget for the entire year with eight months still remaining. The roadside contracts in Killarney [Dr Hubert Minnis’ constituency] alone had risen to almost $400,000.”

Mr Cartwright, describing Tribune Business’ question on whether he thought he was being targeted by the governing party as “very interesting” and “profound”, but declining to be drawn further, replied: “There was no attempt at electioneering.

“As I said in Parliament before, the issuance of contracts started in July. This happened prior to the calling of the election on August 19 when we were completing that process. Under normal circumstances, in any given year this process can go into September/October. It has in prior years. It’s just that snap election was called.”

Further refuting the “electioneering” allegation, Mr Cartwright described the charge as “quite ridiculous and laughable for the record” given his assertion that many such contracts were awarded to PLP supporters.

He added that every request for additional funding for the Authority was, during his tenure, made through the appropriate channels and processes via the Ministry of Finance. “The appropriate authorities would have been aware of every request that we made,” Mr Cartwright said, with the Authority adhering to processes first set-up when it was created by the Christie administration.

“There were no arbitrary decisions taken as relates to the process that was followed,” he added. “There’s an overall discussion that needs to be had about how to improve things. There’s no doubt about that... more stringent and more rigid protocols.

“We made a decision to be as fair and equitable as possible in the distribution of these opportunities to persons of the opposite [political] side and, more importantly, Bahamians had access to opportunities that arise from public funds.

“Historically, the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority has been woefully underfunded. It’s been underfunded from when it was created. There’s no maintenance department there. Fixing park lights, those large scale obligations we have, was a challenge and quite frankly - from a service standpoint to the public - we couldn’t necessarily meet those obligations.”

Calling for “a larger conversation” on the Authority’s funding, Mr Cartwright said he was “not sure” about the numbers quoted by the Prime Minister and needed to check more. However, he described Mr Davis’ calling into question of contracts awarded for park maintenance in Blair and Westridge as disingenuous.

The MP said both areas were covered under contracts awarded by the last Christie administration, and added: “There’s nothing sinister or improper about those areas being covered. They were always part of the inventory.

“This idea that there was some arbitrary and reckless action, it’s unfounded. This is unfortunately politics in The Bahamas and this is a new government that has just come in and is in the first throes of the administration trying to discredit the former administration.

“From a political standpoint, this is par for the course and something I feel we need to move away from.” Mr Cartwright also called for the Authority to move away from a “system weighted heavily on the recommendations of MPs”.

He added that, while executive chairman, the Authority did its best to de-politicise contract awards and ensure they were equitably distributed among Bahamian contractors capable of doing the job regardless of party affiliation.