The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE Public Accounts Committee will not place much weight on the government’s independent report into the Small Home Repairs Programme when it resumes its stalled probe into Urban Renewal 2.0 today.

Free National Movement Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest, who sits on the committee, yesterday said Auditor General Terrance Bastian’s report will take precedence in the investigations that were stopped nearly four months ago.

The committee is scheduled to meet with a Small Homes Repairs Programme (SHRP) quantity surveyor, an Urban Renewal Band director along with the Urban Renewal Commission today, and with the programme’s co-chairs next week.

Insisting that the PAC’s scope extends further than just the SHRP, Mr Turnquest said members were eager to get back to work on addressing concerns related to all aspects of the government initiative, such as the Urban Renewal Foundation.

“The question is and what we hope to get some clarification on is value for money,” Mr Turnquest said, “and whether in fact the projects that were completed were done in a structured and orderly matter. Whether the money was appropriately spent in accordance with the announced guidelines for the programme.

“We’re focused primarily on the system to see what the weaknesses are, what structures and controls were put in place to rectify the deficiencies identified. To ensure that the government put the necessary controls in place so that we don’t have any further wastage – if in fact that has occurred, we’re not rushing to conclusions.”

He added: “We still have a number of questions to ask and avenues to investigate, including the whole concept of a foundation that seems to have been operating in a manner that we’re concerned about.”

The auditor general’s report covers the period of July 1, 2012 to September 30, 2014, and surveyed a sample of 75 homes. After the report was leaked to the media in April, Urban Renewal Co-chairs Cynthia “Mother” Pratt and Algernon Allen refused to appear before a scheduled hearing with the PAC concerning the specifics of the audit. Their refusal was ultimately supported by House Speaker Dr Kendal Major, who ordered the PAC to “stay its hand” regarding the probe until the audit had been tabled in Parliament.

The audit found a litany of concerns and weaknesses related to the Small Home Repairs project’s management and expenditure, and concluded that it was difficult to determine whether the government had received value for money.

Pointing out “areas of discrepancy” in the audit, Minister of Works Philip “Brave” Davis commissioned an independent study – tabled on July 22 – that determined the initiative’s first phase had received value for money, directly contradicting findings in the auditor general’s report.

Yesterday, Mr Turnquest said: “We will obviously take a look at it (the independent report), and we have, but we put no weight on it at this particular point because the auditor general’s report was done at a particular point in time and he found the deficiencies that he found at that time. The report by the ministry was done several months later, while it is a useful document it could not address issues as of the date the auditor’s team did their work.”

“The only thing we can do at this stage is to look at projects that have been brought to us through the auditor general’s report,” he said, “and trying to ensure or correlate what has happened with those projects to the results and the quantity surveyor reports to see whether there was actual value for money.

“In terms of money spent, it’s difficult because there are limited resources or trails but we are in possession of some documentation that will lead us on a particular course of questioning that we’re following.”

He added: “We need to have this matter concluded so that we can submit our report to parliament and move on to other issues.”