The Tribune

BY NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE OPPOSITION’S leader yesterday voiced hope that public officials and others will be deterred from “misusing” taxpayer monies by Parliament’s spending watchdog as it held “a productive meeting” with a provider of the controversial pre-election building vouchers.

Michael Pintard told Tribune Business that the five-strong Public Accounts Committee, the only House of Assembly body for which the Opposition holds the majority, met with executives from the Grand Bahama-based Do It Centre to gain an understanding of how the $1.5m-plus vouchers initiative was implemented earlier this year.

Declining to provide details, on the grounds that he did not want to “prejudice” or “pre-empt” interviews with other witnesses, the Marco City MP added that the Committee also plans to meet with other building materials suppliers who provided the vouchers as well as Ministry of Finance officials who were involved in their purchase. He even hinted these could include Simon Wilson, the Ministry’s financial secretary.

“We had a productive meeting with one of the vendors to get a good sense of how the programme had been executed,” Mr Pintard told this newspaper. “We’ll have another two sessions next week Tuesday and again the following week. We’re going to continue to raise the questions with several of the vendors, and persons with the Ministry of Finance, we will also be interviewing them so that we have a rounded picture of how the programme was executed.”

The Opposition leader, though, declined to provide specifics on what was discussed or learned from yesterday’s meeting with Do It Centre representatives. “We want to get a fuller picture before we comment on the details since we have not been able to speak with all the vendors,” he explained. “We don’t want to pre-empt our discussions with them by any public comments related to the process.

“We don’t want to go any further than that at the moment. I don’t want to prejudice discussions that we are having in any way. We want to get the full picture at the front end, and have a full disclosure on the back end.”

Mr Pintard, though, expressed optimism that the Committee will be able to uncover much of what occurred with the pre-election building vouchers based on “the participation from all concerned” on both the private sector and government sides, even referencing Mr Wilson.

Tribune Business previously reported that the Government’s own procurement records showed the Ministry of Finance collectively purchased more than $1.5m worth of building vouchers from various building materials suppliers in New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco during March and April 2026 in the general election run-up.

Some $663,437 worth were acquired in April, including $413,437 from Freeport-based Contractors Direct, with the $250,000 balance obtained from Premier Importers. Both purchases were made by the ‘direct award’ method, meaning there was no competitive bidding, and took place on April 13, 2026 - less than one month before the general election.

The vouchers were acquired for the purpose of obtaining “building materials in Grand Bahama and Abaco” - seemingly to assist still-struggling residents with rebuilding and repairing their homes more than six-and-a-half years after Hurricane Dorian devastated both islands.

Controversy, though, arose after Premier Importers revealed the vouchers had been purchased by the Ministry of Finance. But the vouchers, which were issued in “amounts of $200, $300 and $500”, carried the names and signatures of Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) election candidates and officials, raising concerns - vehemently denied and disputed by the governing party - that taxpayer monies were being employed to finance its campaign.

The April 2026 purchases also added to the $900,000 worth of building materials vouchers purchased by the Ministry of Finance in March. Some $250,000 was sourced from 21st Century Building & Hardware, located on Palm Beach Street, along with a further $200,000 from Wulff Road-based FYP. Some $150,000 was obtained from each of Cartwright’s Building Supplies, Pinder’s Enterprise and Hanson Building Materials to bring the total to $900,000 for that month.

Mr Pintard yesterday said it was the Committee’s “hope and anticipation” that its vouchers inquiry, and others that it plans to issue reports on such as the CARIFTA track and field championships and the Jubilee Games, as well as Auditor General investigations into these events, will “impact the way government funds are managed”.

“We want to make sure that funds and processes, where people are tempted to misuse funds and processes, that these type of discussions and meetings in future give persons pause before making any decision which may be in violation of the law or the Public Finance Management Act,” the Opposition leader told Tribune Business.

“We just want people to follow the law, the regulations and the procedures. We want them to follow the process and use public funds appropriately, and be open and transparent, having sent a message to all concerned so it informs future behaviour.”

Mr Pintard said the Public Accounts Committee will likely spend “two more sessions”, spanning the next two weeks, focusing on the building materials vouchers and then “be in a position to wrap up shortly thereafter” given that it has attracted “significant public interest”. He added that a report on the matter would likely be circulated to Committee members around 14 days after the final meeting to obtain their feedback and ensure it accurately reflects interviews and findings.