The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Leader Michael Pintard said the Davis administration should be clearer about when contractors who had agreements with the Bahamas Parks and Public Beaches Authority will be paid monies owed to them.

The entity is cancelling all contracts after an operational review raised numerous concerns about internal controls.

Officials say contractors who can comply with Know Your Customer rules will be paid.

Nonetheless, Mr Pintard said yesterday: “The government needs to be explicit. What is the timetable that they are going to follow to pay the Bahamians who have worked, some of them who have not been paid since July for the work that they have done maintaining parks and other facilities. It is absolutely important during this difficult period when many families are hurting for the government to be absolutely clear on when they intend to pay these Bahamians.”

Mr Pintard did not give an overall view of the report, which was conducted by K Christie and Co Chartered Accountants and made public on Friday.

“In January the government has promised to lay the final report,” he said at a press conference yesterday. “We are studying the report we received shortly after the members of the media received it. If you were to refer to Mr Cartwright’s comments in the House of Assembly, I thought he laid out a compelling case to explain some of the items that were already mentioned in the press briefing of the government. Once we have had a chance to study it, we intend line by line to offer a response to what has been contended in the report but by those persons speaking at the press conference as well.”

St Barnabas MP Shanendon Cartwright was Executive Chairman of the authority during the period of the review.

In a short statement yesterday, he said: “I note the contents of the distributed report. On assuming office as Executive Chairman of the Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority in August of 2017, and throughout my tenure, established procedures were followed. Notably the report indicates that ‘most contracts adhered to the documentation requirements of the authority.’ I look forward to the completion of the government’s assessment on this matter at which point I will respond accordingly.”