The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamian construction industry’s reputation has been “ruined” due to dishonesty and a complete lack of accountability a leading contractor said yesterday, noting that the long awaited Contractors Bill addresses all of the issues raised by the Auditor General over the government’s Small Homes Repair (SHR) programme.

Stephen Wrinkle, a former Bahamas Contractors Association (BCA) president, told Tribune Business that the audit of the SHR programme had merely brought to light issues that the BCA has being seeking to address for years.The Auditor General noted that there was a lack of transparency, accountability and due diligence in the execution of the programme, with numerous issues discovered in the issuance of contracts, contractor requirements and the lack of a competitive bidding process.

Eleven contractors were paid $171,000 as part of the SHR programme for work that was never done or completed according to an audit of the programme.

“This has simply brought to light issues that the BCA has been speaking on for years now,” Mr Wrinkle said. “This issues of accountability and transparency have permeated every sector of our society now. It’s like a cancer that’s ruining our country. Unless and until the people who are in the positions of leadership decide to live and abide by the laws of integrity and honesty we’re not going to see any change. We can’t see any change.”

According to the audit, which covers the period July 1, 2012 to September 30, 2014, phase one of the SHR programme, managed by the Urban Renewal Commission, began in November 2013. During that phase 312 homes were repaired during this phase at a cost of $3.2 million.

“When you look at the documentation that was required from them for instance, all of that is covered in the Contractors Bill,” Mr Wrinkle said. “None of this would be able to happen if they had a proper Contractors Bill in place. All of those checks and balances are in the Bill. My question is: now what? Who is going to be held accountable for this and what is going to be done?

The Auditor General has exposed a rotten mess but the question now is what is the Minister of Works prepared to do, is there anything he can do?”

According to Mr Wrinkle, dishonesty and a lack of accountability has ruined the construction industry’s reputation and driven many contractors out of the business. “It’s ruined the reputation of the construction industry and it’s forced a lot of good people to leave the industry because they cannot deal with that situation of dishonesty and lack of accountability,” he said.

“You cannot provide a service under these circumstances, the industry cannot and the country cannot. This is all because they won’t pass a comprehensive piece of legislation that would have addressed these issues years ago. The Contractors Bill promotes and demands accountability and we need some accountability.”