The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Cabinet minister George Smith said yesterday the Public Accounts Committee has “failed miserably” in the execution of its duties.

He added that there ought to be no excuse for the level of “impotence” the parliamentary committee has shown during this term.

Branding it “the worst PAC” he’s seen, Mr Smith said this committee has left much to be desired.

Speaking to The Tribune, the former MP said the PAC by virtue is the most powerful committee in Parliament and should give the Official Opposition, which makes up its majority, the opportunity to show the public how meticulously they would guard public funds among other things, should their party be elected as the government.

However, Mr Smith said if the public is to judge the FNM by the PAC’s track record over the last four years, they would see the party as a “failure” and incapable of governing this country.

Parliament should maintain oversight of the government’s finances through the Public Accounts Committee and it can send for papers and subpoena anyone it chooses during the course of investigations.

The committee has three members from the Official Opposition and two representatives from the governing Progressive Liberal Party.

They include, St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman who is the committee’s chairman, FNM Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest, Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn and PLP members Elizabeth MP Ryan Pinder and Golden Gates MP Shane Gibson.

“I am surprised that the present Public Accounts Committee has appeared to be impotent in discharging the responsibilities of the nation and there ought to be no excuses for that,” Mr Smith said when he was contacted yesterday.

“The Public Accounts Committee during my tenure in the House of Assembly and many of those committees over the years did the work and did so assiduously and the public was generally satisfied with their performance.

“If the goal is to investigate these things and if the end result is if they can have an impact on the performance of the government and the public concludes that those are reasons to withdraw support from the government of the day, the PAC can take credit for it.

“Their role is to investigate and to make recommendations. Then the consequence of that may be on the continuity of a particular party in government, but their objective must be not seen to be purely intended to overthrow the government. That would mean that they are then concentrating on an objective that is not supported by what their mandate really is.”

Mr Smith said House committees are the most powerful organs to monitor the performance of the government, which is why the Official Opposition dominates its make-up. This is to ensure they can go after matters with greater intensity and objectivity, Mr Smith said.

“As far as I am concerned, the members of the Public Accounts Committee have failed miserably in the discharge of their responsibilities. This particular committee is the worst PAC I’ve seen in all my years of observing politics of the Bahamas.

“None in the past have so miserably disappointed in the expectations of Parliament and the public,” he stressed.

During its term as an active House committee, the PAC promised to launch several investigations into matters that raised public attention and sparked national debate. However, it is unclear whether the probes were launched or were able to reach completion.

These include an investigation into the contracts issued for the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) and a probe into the 2013 travel costs incurred by Prime Minister Perry Christie and a delegation that travelled to a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka, which also visited Rome and London.

Mr Chipman also told The Tribune in November 2015 that the Road Traffic Department was to be investigated.

Earlier this year, Mr Turnquest also told Tribune Business that the PAC had issued a request for information to get to the bottom of controversy surrounding whether hotelier Philip Ruffin still owed the government millions in unpaid casino taxes.

However, the PAC did launch a full investigation into the operations of Urban Renewal 2.0 last year. An auditor general’s report covering July 1, 2012 to September 30, 2014, which also surveyed 75 homes, was leaked to the media last year revealing a litany of concerns and weaknesses related to the Small Home Repairs project. The PAC had used the report in its investigation.

A report stemming from this investigation was completed earlier this year, according to Mr Chipman, but has yet to be tabled in the House of Assembly.

The report is the first one produced by the PAC since the Christie administration assumed office in 2012.