The Tribune

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard is “concerned” that Permanent Secretary Luther Smith was a “no show” before the Public Accounts Committee yesterday.

He said Mr Smith’s non-appearance was on the instructions of Attorney General Ryan Pinder, adding that the committee will review the matter and soon advise what next steps it will take.

When contacted last night, Mr Pinder said: “The scope of the request was not compliant with the parliamentary rules governing the PAC.”

Mr Pinder said he was also advised that Mr Smith was only made aware of the request to appear before the committee on Monday.

The PAC met yesterday with Mr Pintard, East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson and Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis present.

According to a press release from Mr Pintard yesterday, he received a letter from the clerk of the House of Assembly which suggested that “the Attorney General (Ryan Pinder) instructed the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works Mr Luther Smith not to attend the scheduled Public Accounts Committee meeting although he was duly served with a summons”.

Mr Pintard said the attorney general advised that he would receive a formal communication on the matter.

“We are very serious about holding the government accountable and will take all the necessary steps to do so,” Mr Pintard said. “We later received the correspondence from Attorney General Ryan Pinder and will review and advise our next steps.”

The Tribune has seen a copy of Mr Pinder’s letter to the PAC chairman, sent in care of the House of Assembly’s clerk. The document was in response to PAC’s letters to various ministries and departments requesting copies of contracts entered into or on behalf of the ministries since September 21, 2021.

Mr Pinder’s February 21 letter said the PAC “made a general request” which went beyond the powers granted to the committee by the House of Assembly’s rules.

“You have made a general request which is beyond the powers granted to the PAC by the rules, specifically section 17 and therefore the request by the chairman of the PAC is denied. Furthermore, the request of interviews of public (servants) on the same grounds is likewise denied for the same reasons,” Mr Pinder wrote.

According to Mr Pinder’s letter, Section 17 of the Rules of Procedure of the House of Assembly states that the PAC has the duty to examine and report on the accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament to meet public expenditure; other reports, accounts or financial statements of ministries, departments and public corporations before the House as the committee may see fit; such other accounts as may be referred to the committee by the House or any other law; or the report of the auditor general.

This comes after Mr Pintard told Tribune Business on Monday he would “leave no stone unturned” in holding the government accountable, saying the PAC is now “rolling” into action.

The PAC was expected to question Mr Smith at 10am yesterday.

“Things are rolling with the Public Accounts Committee,” Mr Pintard said. “We’re going to be putting questions to Luther Smith [Tuesday]. Some of them revolve around not just the Water & Sewerage Corporation but Bahamas Power & Light (BPL). We’re not going to leave any stone unturned with trying to get them [the government] to be accountable and transparent. We’re going to come at them from multiple angles.”

The PAC’s main function is to scrutinise government spending. It is the only parliamentary select committee on which the official opposition holds a majority and can thus seek to set the agenda.

Mr Pintard has promised to make as many PAC hearings as possible open to attendance by the public.

“We are going to look at opening things up going forward. Our goal is to make this as open as possible for the public to observe the work that is taking place.”