The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PUBLIC Accounts Committee Chairman Hubert Chipman said yesterday that the PAC will continue to interview Urban Renewal 2.0 officials on Thursday as it eyes an end to weeks of hearing testimony centred on the programme’s operations.

Mr Chipman expects that after two Urban Renewal inspectors sit before the committee at the House of Assembly this week, the PAC will go into an analysis of all the information gathered to determine a way forward.

Following the last round of interviews, which saw Co-chairs Algernon Allen and Cynthia “Mother” Pratt questioned nearly two weeks ago, Mr Chipman said it became clear that the programme is “disjointed.”

At that time, Mr Chipman added that he was amazed to learn that while “a lot of money” is channelled through Urban Renewal, neither of the co-chairs had “any responsibility” for the funds.

“What we found is that the Urban Renewal Commission is so disjointed in terms of who is in charge of what (and) who pays what,” Mr Chipman said earlier this month.

“A lot of things are passed through Urban Renewal, the co-chairs have no responsibility for Grand Bahama, Cat Island or Eleuthera – their authority only goes up to $10,000. What we also found very interesting . . .was the (Urban Renewal) Foundation sits outside Urban Renewal, even though they raise funds in the name of Urban Renewal Foundation.”

Mr Chipman told reporters that Urban Renewal is operating under the direction of Cabinet and the Ministry of Works and Urban Development, but has no legal status of its own.

When asked about Mr Chipman’s concerns, Mr Allen previously said any money spent by the co-chairs was done wisely.

“We know, from our perspective of the commission, as co-chairs that all money spent by us in seeking to further the objectives, the aims of Urban Renewal, was spent appropriately,” Mr Allen said. “So whatever else may have been done is outside of our purview, but monies which were directed by the co-chairs, by the commission, was done appropriately.”

Earlier this year, he and Mrs Pratt engaged in a standoff with the PAC, accusing the committee of not following parliamentary procedures when it demanded that they respond to concerns raised by a Small Home Repairs report written by Auditor General Terrance Bastian.

Mr Bastian’s audit was leaked to the media in April. That report found, among other issues, that 11 contractors were paid more than $170,000 for small home repairs they had not completed or done. The government later commissioned an independent study, which contradicted this report and found that the programme did receive value for money.