By ALISON LOWE
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:
FEWER than half of all 40 MPs contacted for an accounting of how they had spent or not spent the $200,000 made available to them between 2007 and 2009 to enhance their constituencies have provided that accounting. Only one of those 16 was PLP.
To be clear, the $200,000 in question -- made up of two allocations of $100,000 in consecutive budget cycles since 2007 until the most recent one -- was not given to MPs outright but made available to them from the public treasury once projects that they decided were needed in their areas were approved by the Ministry of Works and the Public Treasury.
After detailing last year in an INSIGHT article the tribulations of this reporter's attempts to secure a documentary accounting from the Public Treasury on how each MP had spent the money potentially available to him, some readers wanted to know why I had not asked the MPs what they had spent the money on.
In the November 30th article I said that I thought this would have been a cop-out and would not have been sufficient to provide as full a picture as Treasury records would have.
Unfortunately, seven months on from my initial request in July 2009, and despite several follow ups with the Minister of State for Finance and Minister of Finance, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, this documentary information is still beyond the reach of this journalist.
However, over the last month and a half I have engaged in this exercise in what I hope will be an interim step towards an accounting of the expenditures before I have the opportunity to provide the full details as outlined in records held by the Treasury.
In doing so, an email request with a deadline for a reply was sent out before Christmas through each party's leader asking each MP if he or she could provide a breakdown of how they had spent the twice allocated $100,000 that was made available to them in the budget for discretionary constituency enhancement projects. As a result, I did receive several prompt responses that shed some light on the matter.
They were so few, however --no more than four initially-- that I decided to send out another reminder email after Christmas to each of the party's MPs, again with a deadline of several days later, I received a few more replies.
For fairness, I tried to ensure both sets of MPs received the same request at the same time in the same form and were given the same amount of time to respond.
I emailed FNM MPs directly as I was provided with their personal email addresses by leader of government business in the House of Assembly, Tommy Turnquest, MP for Mount Moriah. I relied on the cooperation of PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts and PLP Party Whip Melanie Griffin, MP for Yamacraw to contact Opposition MPs with my request, as I was not provided with their addresses to do so myself.
To date, fewer than half of all MPs have responded -- a total of 16 out of 40. Some MPs provided more detail than others -- indicating exactly what amount was spent on which project and who did the work, for example, while others simply listed work that was done.
Of those, 15 were FNM MPs and one was PLP. This leaves eight FNM MPs and 15 PLPs who did not respond.
Several PLP MPs acknowledged receipt of my request. These included party leader Perry Christie, MP for Farm Road and Centreville, to whom my initial inquiry about the possibility of contacting Opposition MPs for this purpose was forwarded; Deputy Leader Philip Davis, MP for Rum Cay, Cat Island and San Salvador and former Chairman and MP Glenys Hanna Martin. But, despite a reminder, none found time to follow through on it.
It should be noted that these constituency funds are separate from the $18,000 annually disbursed directly to individual MPs for the maintenance of their constituency offices. The Government recently undertook to have an audit conducted of these expenditures, whereby any records of what the money was or was not spent on were collected and scrutinised by the Auditor General's Office.
Yesterday Auditor General Terrance Bastian stated that all "fieldwork" towards the completion of this audit has now been done, and it only remains for his office to complete the report on the funds, which he projected could occur by mid-February.
Below is part one of a breakdown of how all of the MPs who responded said they used the $200,000 in their constituencies. Due to space limitations, expect details on the following MPs' expenditures in tomorrow's Tribune: Earl Deveaux (Marathon), Fred Mitchell (Fox Hill), Hubert Ingraham (North Abaco), Zhivargo Laing (Marco City), Charles Maynard (Golden Isles), Branville McCartney (Bamboo Town), Phenton Neymour (South Beach), Brensil Rolle (Garden Hills), Tommy Turnquest (Mount Moriah), Alvin Smith (North Eleuthera) and Brent Symonette (St Anne's).
How did the following spend the $200,000?
Desmond Bannister - FNM - CARMICHAEL:
2007/2008: Mr Bannister, also Minister of Education, followed the theme "Improving sporting infrastructure and development in the community". He had numerous basketball courts resurfaced (Carmichael Police Station, Mermaid Park West, Mermaid Park East, Carmichael Road next to Golden Gates Assembly) and built two new basketball courts (Belaire Park and Sir Gerald Cash Primary School) and resurfaced the tennis court at Flamingo Gardens Park.
2008/2009: Mr Bannister aimed to "provide for community and family leisure relaxation and enjoyment while enhancing community."
This involved: Having 80 benches designed and placed throughout the constituency -- along Carmichael Road, Flamingo Gardens Park, Belaire Park, Mermaid Park East, Mermaid Park West; and on the campuses of the Sir Gerald Cash Primary School, the Carmichael Primary School, and the Anatol Rodgers High School.
Mr Bannister did not say whether this had exhausted the funds.
Carl Bethel - FNM - SEABREEZE:
2007/08: Installation of cement kerbing along the central median of Golf Course Boulevard; cleaning, levelling and landscaping the central median of Golf Course Drive and purchasing and planting grass and trees; clearing of deserted or vacant and overgrown lots of land in Sea Breeze Subdivision, and Gleniston Gardens, as directed and at the request of the Sea Breeze Crime Watch Association; and the installation of a children's playground and swings, etc, on the western end of the newly developed Park at the intersection of Charles Saunders Highway and Golf Course Boulevard.
2008/09: Purchase of two Eno Interactive "White Boards" with built-in projectors for the Sadie Curtis Primary School; the purchase and installation of a children's playground, swings and other equipment in Hope Gardens Subdivision; the partial landscaping and planting of trees at the new Sea Breeze Public Park, at the intersection of Golf Course Boulevard and Charles Saunders Highway.
Loretta Butler Turner - FNM - MONTAGU:
Mrs Butler Turner, also Minister of State for Social Development said: "After consultation and review it was collectively decided that the constituents of Montagu would be best served by these funds from a general clean-up and sustained maintenance of the constituency. Particularly targeted were the areas of main thoroughfares, street verges, side streets, derelict vehicles and indiscriminate dumping."
In this regard, the services of JimCo Construction and Maintenance Services, whose principal owner is Jim Curry, was selected to provide the services. His company was encouraged to engage the services of unemployed residents of the area to carry out the clean-up and maintenance exercises. This included removing derelict vehicles, clearing overgrown properties and mowing and weeding verges.
The contract was scoped by the Ministry of Works and Ministry of Environment and subsequently agreed by Ministry of Finance. The contract was given for the agreed amount of $11,000 per month.
Since the project did not start until late 2007 there was a credit balance of just under $10,000, which was rolled over to 2008/09. All funds were fully utilised by the end of 2008/09.
In December 2008 a financial donation of $2,500 was made to L.W. Young School -- the nearest Public School to Montagu constituency -- for the school's Junkanoo Group. Also a financial donation of $5,000 was made to Colours Junkanoo Group. The majority of group members and youth are residents of Montagu.
Larry Cartwright - FNM - LONG ISLAND:
2007/2008: Long Island - $85,000 was allocated to the Long Island District Council for projects to be done at the MP's discretion. These included: A bathroom block at Glinton's Park, constructed by Pinder's Construction at a cost of $35,625; the Construction of six concrete settlement sign boards by SJC Construction at a cost of $15,850; the Construction of a Bridge-top culvert for drainage near Hamilton's by Laurin Knowles Construction at a cost of $8,000 and the construction of a new Basketball court in Millerton's School yard by G & E Construction at a cost of $29,304.
The overall total cost was $88,779, $3,779 over the allocated amount, Mr Carwright stated.
All contracts were offered through public tender process.
Ragged Island - $15,000 was transferred to the Local Government Office, Exuma for constituency projects at Duncan Town, Ragged Island. These included: the Construction of wooden shed with wooden floor near Wall of Fame for community functions by Myron Lockhart-Bain, the sole bidder, at a cost of $15,000.
2008/2009: Long Island - $9,984.50 paid to The Amoury Company for computers and additional paraphernalia for schools in Long Island and Ragged Island -- five personal computers, five laptops, surge protectors, flash drives, carrying bags, etc.
Balance of $3,779 to G & E Construction for Millerton's Basketball court; Settlement signs for major settlements on Long Island by Island Signs $9,664.50; Construction of a gazebo at Mangrove Bush Beach (ocean side) $5,200 by Cartwright's Construction; Construction of gazebo at Buckley's Beach (ocean side) $5,400 by Neil Cartwright Construction; Construction of gazebo at Gray's Beach $5,450 by Neil Cartwright construction; Construction of gazebo at Gordon's Beach by Cartwright's Construction $5,800; Road repairs to roads leading to beaches at Mangrove Bush and Buckleys by Cartwright's Construction $5,300; repairs to roof of fishermen's shed at Buckley Point by Don Knowles $2,200 and materials for repairs to widow's home by Henry Cartwright $1,500.
All construction jobs, except the last listed, were offered at the end of competitive bidding among contractors on the island.
$30,722 remains unspent to date but is committed to be spent on the completion of the settlement sign project and building three more gazebos at popular picnic spots.
Sidney Collie - FNM - BLUE HILLS:
$100,000 was spent clearing a five acre parcel of land in the Sunset Park Subdivision to commence the development of a "state of the art" community park, to be administrated by a park committee elected from amongst residents of Sunset Park and members of the executive board of the Blue Hills Constituency Association.
A plan was prepared by an urban planner and submitted for registration to the Ministry of Works. Development of the first and second phase of the park were put out through a public tender process and involved the preparation and installation of the perimeter track and the filling of the park.
A male and female bathroom were constructed and are completed except for water and electricity. Two gazebos are under construction, along with a children's play area, a family picnic area, a tennis court, a mini golf court, perimeter fence, a barbecue pit and a parking area are all awaiting completion.
The contractor is Alexander Hanna. The project is inspected and certified for payment by the assistant director of the MInistry of Public Works, Bradley King.
"All disbursements are handled by the individual contractors with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Works," Mr Collie noted. He added that the project is currently "at a standstill" awaiting payment of funds.
A "portion" of the funds were disbursed for the set-up of a community computer lab, including desks, chairs and 15 computers. This project is a joint venture between the MP and the Christ Community Church on Bellot Road, which provided the space and staff that enabled the lab to open six days a week and conduct computer literacy courses.
No money was allocated in the 2009/2010 budget period for discretionary constituency projects due to the economic downturn.
January 19, 2010
How Bahamian Members of Parliament (MPs) spent their $200,000 allocation - Part II
How Bahamian Members of Parliament (MPs) spent their $200,000 allocation - Part III
How Bahamian Members of Parliament (MPs) spent their $200,000 allocation - Part IV
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