The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE public hearing on matters related to the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute will not come until after the 2015/2016 budget presentation as it still awaits financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance, according to St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman yesterday.

House Speaker Dr Kendal Major revealed last week in Parliament that he granted the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) request for the hearing.

At the time, he said, a letter was forwarded to Prime Minister Perry Christie, who is the finance minister, for approval. Financial matters relating to Parliament are subject to the Ministry of Finance’s scrutiny, Dr Major said.

Mr Chipman, who is chairman of the PAC, told The Tribune that as it stands, a number of other factors play into how soon a nationally televised BAMSI hearing could happen.

He said: “The speaker has written to the prime minister. Let me say here that this is not for permission, but for financial clearance because the speaker doesn’t have the funds to finance a public hearing. In that regard he has to reach out to the minister of finance, the prime minister.

“However, going forward, I did have that discussion with him and he did indicate that he will take those things into consideration when the budget comes around that we would (have) adequate funds for events such as this. Even from a staffing point of view… as you know since Mr (Leon) Rahming died a year ago, he has yet to be replaced (as assistant clerk in the House of Assembly). So there are staffing challenges as far as the House is concerned as well.

“I think the speaker is taking all of that into consideration because it is more than the Public Accounts Committee that requires funding. But he is not in the position to proceed from a financial stand point.”

Last month, the PAC petitioned the speaker for a live, televised hearing following accusations by the Free National Movement that protocol might have been broken to issue BAMSI contracts.

At the time, Mr Christie not only told reporters that he was certain all of the contractors working at BAMSI had all-risk insurance, but he urged the PAC to widen the perimetres of its probe into the spending of the Ministry of Works to include contracts signed during the previous Ingraham administration.

Mr Christie insinuated that the contents of files from the Ministry of Works could uncover wrongdoing under the previous FNM government, implying some policies were not adhered to during the tenure of former Works Minister Neko Grant.

Mr Grant, at the time, shot back at these accusations.