The Tribune

IN THE heat of the argument on the hiring of a “non-performing contractor” to build a replica of the same project from which he had been fired, it was claimed that former prime minister Hubert Ingraham had cancelled the first contract for “purely political expediency”.

Not only was this statement not true – but if made to influence the awarding of the second contract to the non-performer – it was irresponsible.

If the information, tabled in the House of Assembly by the Ingraham government in February 2009, is factual — and there is nothing to suggest that it is not — then the Christie government would be highly negligent in contracting this firm to construct a new building for the Ministry of National Security on John F Kennedy Drive. Remember this is taxpayers’ money that government is spending.

The announcement of the proposed second contract is another example of why Bahamians object so strenuously to paying VAT. Why, they reason, should their hard earned dollars be taxed to make such irresponsibility possible? It is also another valid reason why a Freedom of Information Act is needed to know exactly how our affairs are being administered.

On December 15, 2004, under the Christie government, the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation entered into an agreement with Holiday Industrial Builders to construct a building to house it and the Department of Housing. Today, the building is located on John F Kennedy Drive just west of the Ministry of Works building. The contract price was $5,897,783.17.

During the course of construction, major changes were made to the original plans, including an addition of another floor at a cost of $8,301,291. By now, a dispute had arisen between the Mortgage Corporation and the contractor for overpayment for materials and works completed.

By September 30, 2008, with the Ingraham government back at the helm, the cost of the project had mushroomed from $5.8m to $14,199,074.47 and growing.

On November 12, 2008, Mr Colin Higgs, Acting Financial Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, informed the government that on November 4 the contract between the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation and Holiday Industrial Builders had been terminated by the Ministry of Public Works.

The National Insurance Board, having acquired the building from the Mortgage Corporation, hired Construction Cost Engineering (Bahamas) Ltd to review the various contracts, the value of the work to date, and the validity of the cause of the dispute between the Mortgage Corporation and the contractor. They were also to prepare a complete budget.

Among items of interest in that report was Construction Cost Engineering’s comment: “Based upon our review, one would have to ask the question that if the actual final scope and value of the project had been known at the preliminary stages prior to the selection of Consultants and Contractor, would the existing team have the experience to properly control the project from a financial and contractual perspective and were they experienced enough to deal with a project of this complexity.”

Obviously they were not. They were overwhelmed by the job. And so, it had nothing to do with politics, but everything to do with being incapable of handling such a large assignment.

Cost Construction’s recommendations were implemented by the Ingraham government. Maybe Holiday Industrial was hired by the PLP for political reasons, but politics certainly did not enter into their firing — their lack of performance was their own undoing.

Labour Minister Shane Gibson, who started this controversy by announcing that his government has awarded a $20m contract to the same Holiday Industrial Builders to construct a government complex on John F Kennedy Drive, now blames the mushrooming of the first contract from $5.8m to $32m on the “wastage by the Ingraham administration”.

What irony!

There is now a dispute between Mr Gibson and FNM Deputy Chairman Dr Duane Sands over a National Insurance Board Memorandum of November 26, 2008, which in passing certain resolutions on the purchase by National Insurance of the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation building to recover $7,000,000.00 plus accrued interest of $699,329.00 as of December 31, 2008, made a special notation: “Please note,” it said, “that these funds relate to an improper loan from the National Insurance board to the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation. The National Insurance Board was directed, by the Minister for Housing, the Hon Shane Gibson, via communication by Elma Garraway, Permanent Secretary, dated the 9th day of March, 2007 to approve the loan, however Cabinet conclusion and/or Ministerial approval was not provided and/or obtained.”

Today, Mr Gibson is demanding an apology from Dr Sands, pointing out that he could not have given these instructions as he had resigned from Cabinet in February 2007. This matter cannot be left there. Was there a secretarial mistake in recording the dates in the Board’s minutes? Something must have gone wrong for the Board to have gone out of its way to make this special notation. If this information is incorrect, then it should be corrected. Either Mr Gibson did it — and the dates are wrong, or he did not do it and the dates are right. However, this is a matter that cannot be brushed over.

Two months later, the PLP had lost the election and Mr Gibson was no longer in government. However, in 2012 his government was returned. He is now back in his former National Insurance post.

An investigation has to be done and an explanation given of this so-called “improper loan”. An accounting of how Bahamians’ insurance funds are being spent is long overdue. Now is the time to open the books. After all, this is the people’s money.

And while he is about it, maybe Mr Gibson can answer Central Grand Bahama MP Niko Grant’s question. Mr Grant was a former Minister of Works in the FNM government.

Asked Mr Grant: “But why would a person whose work is so questionable be selected to build (a replica of) a building he failed to complete? There are many unanswered questions and the public deserves an answer.”