The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Report

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

HOUSE Speaker Dr Kendal Major has decided not to serve Urban Renewal Co-Chairs Cynthia “Mother” Pratt and Algernon Allen with a summons to appear before the Public Accounts Committee.

Instead, his office will now issue another formal request for them to attend an upcoming Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing with the understanding that the full weight of the law will come to bear if they do not comply.

Dr Major told The Tribune yesterday that the discourse surrounding Urban Renewal’s operations, fuelled by Auditor General Terrence Bastian’s leaked audit report into the initiative, was “unfortunate.”

He said the co-chairs’ response to the claims was also unfortunate.

In the meantime, Dr Major said he does not foresee the process becoming long and drawn out, adding that if this were to happen it would be “sad.”

He spoke to this newspaper in his chambers following the morning session of the House of Assembly. Dr Major met with the PAC ahead of yesterday’s House session to make his recommendations on the way forward as the committee probes Urban Renewal’s operations.

“We met as promised with the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (Hubert Chipman) and the secretary of the committee,” Dr Major said. “My instructions were that I am minded not to issue a summons to the co-chairs at this time considering all of the extenuating circumstances surrounding this matter.

“So first another letter of request will be sent. I would not like to say anymore because there is another added extenuating circumstance that recently came up that may have legal implications and I would rather not go into that. So at this time I have advised and instructed that a summons would not be issued at this time.

“I think that it is very unfortunate (that there has been a lot of public commentary about it) and that has been my greatest disappointment. That is firstly that it (the report) was leaked and secondly the responses of the co-chairs was unfortunate.”

Dr Major added that much of the confusion surrounding the matter has come from issues with the timing of when the initial letter to appear was sent to Mr Allen and Mrs Pratt.

“The fact that it has been sensationalised and it has taken a life of its own is bothersome. We have to always protect the integrity of the chamber of Parliament. So we want to always make sure that there is due process and I think this approach which I consider to be a very judicious approach would be to revisit the process obviously with the understanding that the full weight of the office will come to bear if any person does not comply with the wishes of the House.”

The PAC made a request to the Speaker to issue subpoenas after the co-chairs refused to appear before a scheduled hearing last Thursday. Their refusal came days after a report by the auditor general on Urban Renewal and its Small Homes Repair programme was leaked to the press. It revealed a litany of concerning issues about the initiative’s management and expenditure oversight.

Mrs Pratt and Mr Allen have said that the audit has not gone through proper parliamentary channels because it has not been tabled in Parliament. They have also said that the audit is incomplete.

They declined to attend last Thursday’s hearing citing short notice from the PAC and earlier commitments. They also said they would appear before the committee at an appropriate date, only if the audit was taken out of the scope of questioning.

Dr Major has previously told The Tribune that he saw no fault in the process the PAC is taking to get answers about the scathing findings in the audit report.

The report in large part found that Urban Renewal’s internal controls are “weak,” leaving the initiative open to “abuse”.

Meanwhile, the audit into the Small Home Repairs Programme pinpoints that payments to 11 contractors for more than $170,000 of work was not completed or done, that there was no competitive bidding for the home repair contracts and the contractors were not required to have proof of all-risk insurance.

However, Dr Major has said the co-chairs’ reasoning for refusing to meet with the PAC is based on a “misunderstanding.”

He said earlier this week: “This report does not have to be tabled. This report was requested of the auditor general for a special period and is not like the annual year end reports.”