The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

FNM chairman Darron Cash is questioning whether convicted drug offender Carlos Lamm was “wonderfully rewarded” for his campaign services to the PLP with “lucrative contracts” allegedly granted to him by the government.

The Opposition has questioned in the past if Lamm, a contractor and PLP campaign general, was granted multiple contracts to his company, JFK Construction, by the Ministry of Education for school repairs.

Senator Desmond Bannister asked in the Senate if it were true that neither Tender Board, nor Cabinet approval was sought for the contracts, which, he said, were worth more than $138,000.

It was last Monday that Lamm was convicted in Magistrate’s Court for possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply, after a trial that spanned four years. He was sentenced to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.

In a press release, issued yesterday, Senator Cash said Bahamians have “good and strong grounds” to ask if the government will “make any deal and associate openly with anyone” in order to win an election.

Lamm was “instrumental in using his influence and questionable connections on the streets” to help PLP candidates win at least three constituencies during the last general election, the party chairman alleged.

Mr Cash also stated that Lamm played another “instrumental role” in the North Abaco by-election campaign.

“One must then ask the question,” Mr Cash said, “was Mr Lamm wonderfully rewarded for his services in the general and by-election campaigns?

“His primary benefactor is Minister of Education, Science and Technology, and Marathon MP Jerome Fitzgerald. Minister Fitzgerald’s support of Mr Lamm was very open. The Minister seemed proud of it. He was so proud of Mr Lamm that he was unrepentant is granting multiple contracts to his campaign general, Mr Cash alleged.

“After all, this Minister was not alone in governing in this way. ‘Contracts for our boys’ was the order of the day in the ‘new’ but ‘same old’ government of Perry Christie. To behave otherwise would have made Fitzgerald the odd man out. This was except for the stubborn fact of Mr Lamm’s issues with the criminal justice system.”

When questioned by Mr Bannister about the contracts, Mr Cash continued, Mr Fitzgerald “dismissed the concerns.”

Mr Fitzgerald had gone on record in the House of Assembly denying any conflict of interest in the issuance of school repair contracts.

“This nonchalant reaction from a senior minister was surprising,” Mr Cash said. “From day one, the FNM has questioned whether the Minister with responsibility for shaping the character and values of our nation’s youth truly understood the admonition that a man is judged by the company he keeps. We questioned whether he fully understood the example he was setting for the young people he leads.”

Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant has also raised questions about school contracts on Grand Bahama Island, Mr Cash continued, and Mr Banister – the Shadow Minister of Education – “has nearly filled the Senate’s order paper with questions in an effort to demand accountability.”

Mr Cash said the PLP “has not answered a single question” to date and so he is now calling on the government to respond to the queries put forth in the Senate.

The questions include: “Will the Honourable leader of Government business please inform this Honourable Senate whether or not any of the contracts were issued to JFK Construction – Carlos Lamm during the summer of 2012?”

And: “Will the Honourable leader of Government business please confirm that at the same time that contracts exceeding $138,000.00 were being issued to JFK Construction – Carlos Lamm – other school repair contracts were being issued to Bahamians for as little as $1,869.66.”