The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority has so far verified that about 30 percent of contractors had existing contracts with the entity, according to its chairman McKell Bonaby.

In December the authority announced that it would cancel hundreds of contracts after external investigators found numerous lapses in the organisation’s functions and internal controls.

Mr Bonaby has said the contracts will be terminated in a legal manner so that contractors with valid agreements will be paid.

Contractors are required to present basic Know Your Customer information so officials can verify and pay them out.

“We are moving meticulously,” Mr Bonaby said yesterday. “We want to make sure when we are reporting to the Bahamian people we are reporting accurate information and so, myself, along with the board, we’re taking our time with this. It’s not something that we are going to just do in a knee jerk reaction.”

He added: “This was not a process that was set up to set people up so to speak, it was not a sleight of hand. What we’re doing is just simply trying to do things that ought to have been done from inception and so the process has been moving smoothly, persons are happy with the process.

“We have been doing it at the sports centre. We have about 1,500 contractors and so we have at least, by now, have verified about 450 or so contractors in the process and the process is continuing. The hold up has been the TCCs, the tax certificate compliance, and so we find that once that part of it is completed, I believe the numbers will pick up. We’re there to help the Bahamian contractors, we want to make sure they get paid as long as they are able to verify what needs to be verified.”

Mr Bonaby said the authority is working on getting out new contracts.

In December he said some 300 general service workers will fill the void after the then current contracts were cancelled.

K Christie and Co Chartered Accountants conducted the operational review of the BPPBA. Its probe found the authority went millions of dollars over budget despite there not being any “real needs on the ground” for this overspend; found inconsistencies in signatures on contracts, and VAT returns were not filed, among other lapses.