The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney has criticised Prime Minister Perry Christie for opting to attend a basketball game in Florida rather than seeking to rectify the controversy surrounding the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute.

Mr McCartney claimed Mr Christie, following parliamentary proceedings on Wednesday night, left the country to attend a Miami Heat National Basketball Association game amidst a controversy surrounding the lack of an insurance policy for the fire-damaged dormitory at BAMSI on North Andros.

In a statement on Friday Mr McCartney said the trip “could not come at a worse time,” and asked whether a basketball game was “really more important to him than dealing with the BAMSI crime scene?”

He said as minister of finance, it is Mr Christie’s “ultimate responsibility to ensure that any and all payouts from the Treasury are done so in accordance with the law”.

“Even as the electorate is left to wonder where the government intends to find the money to reconstruct that building, Mr Christie left the country following parliamentary proceedings on Wednesday night to attend a Miami Heat game in Florida,” Mr McCartney said.

The Ministry of Tourism held a promotional event at the game publicising the Bahamas, the IAAF World Relays and the imminent opening of Baha Mar.

“This trip could not come at a worse time. Where are Mr Christie’s priorities and who funded this trip? Were taxpayer funds again misappropriated for the personal exploits of government officials? Was a basketball game really more important to him than dealing with the BAMSI crime scene?

“Clearly this administration has lost its way,” he added. “The leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party has failed this country. They must all go. Now.”

Mr McCartney also called for Mr Christie’s resignation as minister of finance and questioned how he could not have known something was amiss, considering that BAMSI is a key project the prime minister has been promoting over the past few months.

“For months now, the (prime minister) has touted the benefits of BAMSI, spreading the message of its potential across the archipelago; recounting again and again the very personal attachment he had to this idea,” he said. “It is hard to believe then that the (prime minister) was not intimately knowledgeable about the facility’s inner workings, its progress and exactly how much money was paid out, when, and to whom.”

Mr McCartney’s comments came two days after Minister of Works Philip “Brave” Davis backtracked from his initial comments about the validity of the insurance policy of the fire-damaged dormitory at BAMSI.

Last month, Mr Davis said the insurance policy had lapsed at the time of the fire on January 15, due to contractor negligence. However, on Wednesday, he revealed that the $2.6m structure never had all-risk insurance coverage, as was mandated, and that the contractor only provided a quote from an insurance company before receiving payments.

He said the oversight was due to an “administrative error.”

Former Works Minister Neko Grant has called for police to investigate the matter and said Mr Davis “misled” the House of Assembly when he spoke on the matter on February 25. He said Mr Davis should now “do the honourable thing”.

Mr Hanna has said he is willing to rebuild the dorm from scratch, at no expense to taxpayers, but that he did not know where he would get the money.

“If it means I have to put the building back to the way it was, I’ll do that but that ain’t my call, that’s the government’s call,” Mr Hanna told The Tribune.

It will cost more than $5m to rebuild the dorm, Mr Davis has said.