The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Darron Cash yesterday called on Prime Minister Perry Christie to say when he became aware of the details contained in a forensic audit of the Public Hospital Authority, which revealed unaccounted for pharmaceuticals worth $10m.

He further branded Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez as “ineffective” amid the ongoing PHA scandal that brought to light several flaws with the organisation’s system of operations.

Mr Cash said that, with such revelations, there should be more effective leadership. In the absence of that leadership, Mr Cash said that Dr Gomez has shown that he “seems to be afraid of taking action”.

The FNM chairman’s chiding of the Health Minister came in a press statement following Dr Gomez’s admission on Monday that it was too early to say whether anyone would face consequences because of the findings in the audit. He told reporters he was sure the government “will do the right thing”.

“To date, his response to the report has not inspired any confidence that he will do the right thing,” Mr Cash said.

“On the contrary, it appears that he has not done much at all. Unlike the witch-hunt that followed the leak of information from the Bank of The Bahamas, the Christie government has apparently found no convenient FNM scapegoat to pursue. Once again, the appearance is of a government cover-up to protect well-connected political friends. 

“The Health Minister’s statement to the press that it is ‘too early to act’ on the report reflects a Minister that is too laid back and out of touch with the majority of Bahamians to be effective. With a reported $10m seemingly unaccounted for because it may have ‘walked out the back door’ of the public hospital facilities, the evasive minister seems to be locked in an administrative web of his own making.

“He seems to be afraid of taking action. His inaction to date does not inspire confidence for several reasons. His first response was to be evasive with his typical ‘no comment I am too busy to talk’ response.”

Mr Cash said had the FNM been the government, it would have treated the matter as one of high priority and demanded the resignation of Dr Gomez.

“An FNM government would have reported to the Bahamian people that immediately upon receiving the report from the external auditor, the matter was brought to the attention of the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. To have done otherwise would have been a dereliction of duty on the part of the minister.

“Once the PM was informed, a competent Minister of Health would have urged the Prime Minister to permit him to brief the rest of the Cabinet, given the seriousness of the report and the amounts involved. It is the FNM’s position that the Bahamian people deserve to know whether the first time the Prime Minister became aware of the $10m problem was when the rest of the public read about it in the press.

“Additionally, the FNM’s approach would have been to ensure that at the time the full report was released to the public the Bahamian people would have been advised of the series of immediate action steps that were already taken to implement stronger internal controls to protect the people’s money.”