The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest yesterday levelled a stinging criticism at Hurricane Matthew Czar Shane Gibson, saying it was “asinine” to accuse him of deliberately attempting to undermine the government’s relief efforts, while suggesting that the government could have a case of misappropriated funds in play.

The East Grand Bahama MP said Mr Gibson’s “defensive” posturing was “unfortunate” and was proof that he was not only uneasy, but “uncomfortable” about the way money has been spent in Grand Bahama nearly a month since Hurricane Matthew devastated the island.

The remarks came the day after Mr Gibson claimed in an interview with The Tribune that Mr Turnquest is intentionally raising the alarm about the government’s hurricane recovery efforts to sway international donors from giving money to a restoration fund. He further accused the opposition deputy leader of wanting the government’s efforts “to fail”.

Mr Gibson told reporters yesterday that the government has collected $1.4m to date from donors for recovery efforts.

“A one word response to that is asinine. It’s an asinine statement,” Mr Turnquest said yesterday.

“And coming from a minister who has been around and involved in politics for a long time he ought to know better and he ought to lead us better. The fact is whenever anybody challenges this government to be fair and honest and act with integrity and transparency they always revert to this thing about questioning people’s loyalty and patriotism.”

He added: “It is a default response for them whenever they are challenged and don’t have a good answer. Quite frankly it’s disappointing as a leader there is concern not only from the opposition, there is widespread public concern over the donations, how they are being made and how they are applied particularly from Grand Bahama where they have received almost $1m.

“Grand Bahamians want to know that they are going to be getting the benefits of the lion’s share of that donation to rebuild their communities as one of the hardest hit areas.

“So the question that I raise is simply to put the Grand Bahamian people’s minds at rest that these funds are going to be spent fairly and that they are going to benefit directly from the generosity of all of the persons who have been donating to this hurricane restoration fund.”

Asked if he was suspicious about Mr Gibson’s defensive tone, Mr Turnquest said: “I think it absolutely does say a lot. I believe that it’s obvious and for him to have taken the positions that he’s taken to try and deflect away from the actual question to a matter of personal integrity, I think smacks of unease and (that he is) uncomfortable about something.

“We are still waiting for the report on carnival. We are still waiting on reports from the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute. We are still waiting on the reports from Urban Renewal and we are still waiting on reports from the music festival. We are still waiting on all kinds of financial reports and they have not been forthcoming. So do we expect that there is going to be detailed transparent reporting? Well I think the record speaks for itself.”

On Sunday, Mr Turnquest demanded that the Christie administration provide a thorough accounting of hurricane relief spending.

In response, Mr Gibson said on Monday, he was “shocked” at Mr Turnquest’s actions.

“He along with the FNM are intentionally saying these things, knowing that it’s not true, hoping that people won’t donate to the hurricane relief and hoping that the relief is a failure,” Mr Gibson added.

“I am shocked because I was defending him all along saying, ‘no, he is not like that.’

“Why would he go to the press and say something - send messages to international donors telling them something is going on that is not going on? Why would he do that?”

When asked about Mr Turnquest’s call for a thorough accounting on hurricane relief spending, the minister said: “NEMA tables their official report every year, auditors statements.

“Why would you ask that? Which government agency as soon as they spend a dollar reports that they spent a dollar? It doesn’t work that way.”