The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

URBAN Renewal Co-chair Algernon Allen yesterday said he felt “absolutely vindicated” by House Speaker Dr Kendal Major’s decision that a recent audit into Urban Renewal did not go through the correct parliamentary procedures.

Mr Allen said the decision made by Dr Major yesterday morning in the House of Assembly did “justice to our parliamentary democracy”.

However, he said he was “particularly concerned” about the “vitriolic attack” on himself and co-chair Cynthia “Mother” Pratt for “seeking to do the right thing in the right way.”

He added that he is attempting to thwart four lawsuits against the contents of the audit, which all could have been avoided had the document been made public in the right way.

Similarly, Mrs Pratt told The Tribune yesterday that while she “thanks God” for Dr Major’s decision, she still takes exception to being “maliciously attacked,” and having her “good name defamed and libelled.”

“What particularly concerned me and certainly concerned Mother, is the vitriolic attack on us, for seeking to do the right thing in the right way,” Mr Allen said. “And we do hope, that at least someone is prepared to say that the co-chairs maintained a principle that process is important, that you cannot use any means to achieve an end, no matter how noble, no matter how desirable that end is. We want to achieve the same end as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) or as the auditor or any right thinking Bahamian in this country.

“But we certainly will not run constitutional red lights, and we certainly will not run parliamentary red lights to achieve that objective.”

Mrs Pratt said the whole ordeal left her hurt.

“I would have thought over the many years that the Bahamas knows Mother Pratt, and having the opportunity of working with many associations, including the Santa Claus Christmas Committee, everyone would know what I stand for,” she said. “They would know how I have conducted myself over the years, and that I have never taken a red cent.”

She added: “We made a decision to do what is right and were maliciously attacked, our good character slandered, my good name defamed and libelled. What have we done wrong? We never said we wouldn’t appear (before the PAC). All we said is there is a process. Table the report. We will come and we will answer to what we know.”

Yesterday, Dr Major said he had instructed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which had been actively investigating Urban Renewal spending, to “stay its hand” in relation to “further inquiries related to the said report” until Parliament decides “how it intends to proceed” on the matter.

He added that an audit into Urban Renewal and its Small Homes Repair programme, which was the focus of the PAC’s investigation, had not been laid before the House of Assembly and consequently was not in the category of documents that could “attract the scrutiny of the Public Accounts Committee.”

Mr Allen said if the document had been tabled in the House, it would have had the “immunity that exists for the purposes of parliamentary communication.”

“What has happened as a consequence of this document not being properly laid on the table of the House, is that there have been a stint of lawsuits, one which is already been pursued in the instance of one (contractor) Omar Thompson, under the attorney Wayne Munroe and several others which we are trying to forestall,” Mr Allen said. “Because I’ve said to three other persons, please do not sue this audit, because what it does is it depletes the funds that are available for Urban Renewal because they all come from the same source, the government of the Bahamas.

“There are four lawsuits potentially pending against the audit, and why, because the correct procedure was not followed. The immunity which ought to have existed for the audit does not exist because it was not laid on the table of the House.”

Last month a leaked report prepared by Auditor General Terrance Bastian revealed a litany of concerning issues about Urban Renewal’s management and expenditure.

The PAC subsequently sought to get answers about the report’s scathing findings, and requested both co-chairs to appear before scheduled hearings with the committee.

The co-chairs refused, however, citing the audit as not having gone through proper parliamentary channels. They also said the audit was incomplete. Mrs Pratt and Mr Allen said they would appear before the committee at an appropriate date, only if the audit was taken out of the scope of questioning.

The report found a lack of transparency and accountability in the Small Homes Repair programme and said that Urban Renewal had weak controls and was open to “abuse”.