The Tribune

By Rupert Missick 

CONTRACTOR Kenuth Knowles says documents show why electrical contracts for the proposed Ministry of Tourism offices were awarded to his company without being sent out to tender. 

Mr Knowles, owner of Kenuth’s Electrical, says a new series of documents and reports he provided to The Tribune show why the contracts for the planned offices on Thompson Boulevard were awarded. 

Auditors from the accounting firm Grant Thornton raised concerns as to why Kenuth’s was paid more than $400,000 for work on the building but no contract for the work existed.

Mr Knowles said National Insurance Board officials were desperate to get the work done on the building and based on the time the Ministry of Tourism wanted to move into the building, and the safety issues caused by faulty wiring, which he said caused two electrical fires, there was no time to send the work to tender.

“I don’t blame them for not sending the work to tender, you don’t do that with that kind of job. There was no time,” Mr Knowles said.

Mr Knowles’ claim seems to be supported by a letter provided to The Tribune between Pyramid Industries and Osborne Moxey, who at the time was NIB’s Project Manager. 

After an examination of the building, Pyramid conceded that the previous electrical contractors had not carried out final renovations to the building’s electrical drawings which were dated from 2009. 

In addition, the new and updated panels and cables for the IT room were never installed. Circuits were not tied into panels and some wires that were installed did not meet the engineer’s minimum requirements.

Pyramid suggested that all criticism be tested under load as some light fixtures were not powered.

In one location electrical sparks were seen in the ceiling of the first floor. There was also no UPS power in the IT room on the first floor as the circuit assignments were not made in compliance with the engineer’s drawings.

Pyramid advised NIB that the building’s issues needed to be corrected by a qualified three phase electrical contractor. 

“The electrical contractor must place a full complement of staff at the Ministry of Tourism to complete all outstanding works swiftly and competently,” the letter said.

It was this need to address these issues “swiftly and competently” that Mr Knowles said inspired Mr Moxey to contact him.

“As a matter of fact I begged him to find someone else, to give someone else the job because things were so bad. But I guess no good deed goes unpunished,” Mr Knowles said. 

Auditors were unable to confirm whether the NIB Director and Mr Knowles were friends as alleged by then NIB Chairman Gregory Moss ad Mr Gibson.

Mr Knowles said he was confused by the attempt to associate him with suspended NIB Director Algernon Cargill as Mr Cargill neither hired him nor was he responsible for his payment as the contractor. He claimed that the allegations levelled by Mr Moss and Mr Gibson seem to be deeply personal. 

According to the minutes of a meeting of subcontractors for the proposed Ministry of Tourism Building on March 6, 2012, Mr Moxey advised that the board was “anxious” to have the project completed on March 31.

Even at the time of the meeting, which was close to the Board’s desired completion date, a litany of outstanding issues with the building still needed to be addressed.

Among other things, an inspection of the building revealed that the correct size fuses were not able to be installed for the elevators because of the “high rating” of the disconnect switch. So Kenuth’s was asked to correct the wiring from the switch to the controller.

One of the chillers for the air conditioning was not working, principally due to failure of both compressors.  

Mr Knowles said he puts responsibility of this current “assault” on his character and business squarely on the shoulders of the minster with responsibility for National Insurance, Shane Gibson. 

“He damaged my business and I believe he’s put my life in danger but that’s okay. He doesn’t impress me. If he wants to impress me he should take me to the airport, put me on a plane and make me leave the country,” Mr Knowles said.