The Tribune

THE argument over the salary of the former managing director of the Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA), Katherine Forbes-Smith, is missing the point.

Whether Mrs Forbes-Smith should be paid the remainder of her salary will play out in the court. Ultimately, $110,000 a year for being in charge of the reconstruction of the hurricane-hit islands is not an outlandish sum. That’s a big responsibility, and should have a pay packet that is appropriate to the task.

The real question is whether or not the work she did matched up to the salary that she was given. In short, was she worth it?

Central and South Abaco MP John Pinder sums up the work of the DRA as “dismal, absolutely dismal”.

One of the stories that became a symbol of the lack of progress in recovering after Hurricane Dorian was the acquisition of domes to set up as temporary housing in Abaco – but more than a year after the storm, more than half of the domes still had to be set up. The people waiting on those domes had to find somewhere else in the meantime – so what was the point of the domes?

Mr Pinder had further criticism of the domes yesterday, saying: “They were never installed properly meaning the cesspit was never hooked up and needs to be regularly pumped out. These are the same areas that kids play around. Some of them don’t have electricity. Some of them are mould-infested, which is causing respiratory problems and on the whole, it was not only a bad decision, it was the wrong decision. It was something that is detrimental now to the health of Abaconians and the money we spent on that could have been utilised to put them in micro homes that would have been more suitable for a longer time frame.”

Time and again, The Tribune has heard stories of slow progress in the recovery after the storm, with a difficulty in securing supplies for repairs a recurring feature.

Mr Pinder also told of debris sites that were untended, and “many, many challenges” in Abaco.

So while the focus is on the details of Mrs Forbes-Smith’s contract, and whether it was a waste of money, there’s a far bigger question of whether money has been wisely spent in the work of the authority itself. Of course, we would hope there are lessons to be learned from the drafting of such contracts, including break clauses for targets not being met, but there’s a bigger issue here.

Some of these things – such as the domes – looked like a disaster in the making from the start, and pointed questions failed to bring satisfactory answers all through the process.

We would hope that the DRA will learn more than one lesson from all of this – about the contracts that are offered, but also about transparency and accountability. If some new scheme fails to deliver the way the domes project has done, we hope we hear the full story about it – not have to wait for another administration to come in to criticise it.

Most importantly, the people on the ground are still in need of help, and we ought to clear every obstacle out of the way in order to deliver it.

Hurricane Dorian was an event that shook the nation to its foundations, and recovering after that was always going to be a challenge. But this long after the event, we are still failing those who came through the storm. They need our support, and we need to deliver on our promise to be there to help.

Inflation

There is a lot of worry at present about the prospect of inflation bringing higher food costs for the coming year.

It shouldn’t be a new worry – The Tribune has been reporting on concerns raised by SuperValue’s Rupert Roberts for many months now. Mr Roberts has been vocal in warning his customers of the prospect of rising costs.

It’s also not an issue only affecting us. You only need to look at warnings across the water in the US about rising prices, and inflation in the UK has hit a 30-year high this year, with residents warned they could face a rise of about $2,700 equivalent in the cost of living this year.

Some of this is down to increased fuel costs, some of it is down to supply chain problems, but one thing is for certain – we can’t avoid the increased cost so we’d best get used to it. If we want to ship food into the country, we have to pay what it costs for the container and the fuel to ship it.

So rather than stick our heads in the sand and try to ignore the problem, there is something we can do about it.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of residents started their own gardens, growing food for their homes. Why not take the initiative now and follow in their footsteps? Our gardening columnist, Adam Boorman, in the Weekend section is always worth a read for good advice as you go. And perhaps there might be a satisfaction to look forward to on the day you serve your family a meal grown in your own garden. It might not save a lot, but every little helps.