The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Leader Michael Pintard accused Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis of “misleading” the public and being “disingenuous” after saying procurement legislation brought by the former administration was “rushed”.

Mr Pintard explained yesterday the claims are “untrue for a number of reasons”.

While presenting the bill for an act to repeal and replace Public Procurement Act 2021, the prime minister said the 2021 Procurement Act was “rushed” through the consultation and legislative process and came into force two weeks before the end of the last administration.

The opposition leader told The Tribune he is happy that Mr Davis and his team have heard the petitions by the opposition that have called on them to do the responsible thing, which is to follow the law.

But he sought to address the prime minister’s comments.

“The prime minister laid that Bill, the proposed amendment in the House of Assembly. We are going to take our time to go through and give a comprehensive response, but a few things about what he laid in the House of Assembly. He sought to mislead the public and was disingenuous when he said several things. One, that it was rushed legislation, little thought had gone into it, was the second point. And third, that he saw many practical difficulties with the bill itself, which is why they are going to amend it,” Mr Pintard said.

“These are untrue for a number of reasons. One is the actual draft of the legislation the Procurement Act that was brought into force was peer reviewed locally and internationally. The PLP got a copy early, had a chance to study it, the Chamber of Commerce, the Organization for Responsible Government.

“The government of The Bahamas at that time when we were in power were assisted by the Inter- American Development Bank in developing that legislation. In fact, we saw two consultants with their assistance, and the World Bank also had an opportunity to provide some guidance in this process. So again, this thought of little thought going into it that was rushed, is patently false.”

The Marco City MP mentioned when the Progressive Liberal Party was in opposition, they voted for the very bill that the prime minister has criticised. The bill’s tabling comes days after Mr Pintard warned that the party intended to take legal action against the government to initiate a judicial review targeting its refusal to follow the Public Procurement Act.

The opposition leader said the FNM will ask for a written legal opinion on the matter.

“As we study what has been laid by the government, we will then determine if the kinds of amendments they wish to make seek to gut the existing legislation so that it has no tea - that will be a deal breaker for us and we will certainly continue. But again, it’s important for us to go through this to see what they are seeking to accomplish.”

Last week, a day after the FNM’s legal threat, Mr Davis challenged the opposition to “bring it on”. Yet, this week the prime minister announced a new Public Procurement Bill would soon be released for consultation and then the bill was tabled yesterday.

Asked if he thinks talks of legal action pushed the government, Mr Pintard answered: “Certainly, they are responding to the pressure, the relentless pressure that we placed on them to comply with the law. However, we are not alone in this. There are non-governmental agencies that are talking about what are the tenets of responsible government, the Organization for Responsible Government is one of them. And clearly, the behaviour of the administration up to this point is not consistent with those principles of responsible government.”