NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Attorney General Ryan Pinder said the government will pay off all arrears from judgments against the government for perhaps the first time since the country became independent.
Pinder lamented in March that there were $17.7m in outstanding legal claims, saying he found this shocking.
“I want to thank the Ministry of Finance for cooperating with the Attorney General’s Office in addressing this vexing issue of aged arrears that are owed to Bahamians and the private sector with respect to judgments,” he told reporters yesterday.
“Upon coming to the office there was an outstanding $17.7m in judgments that were owed. With our budget allocations for that completely extinguished already, the Ministry of Finance has worked with us in reallocating funds so that total now is down to about $12.2m which will include judgments over that course of time as well.”
Pinder said the supplemental budget Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis tabled last week will be used to pay off the arrears.
“(We) anticipate that for the first time in probably decades, maybe since an independent Bahamas, private settlements will be extinguished going into the legal year,” he said.
Last week, Davis said his administration will seek parliamentary approval for a supplemental budget for additional recurrent expenditure of $216.8m and capital expenditure of $34.5m.
“These balances are owed to hardworking women and men, who have given their time, energy, and resources, to contribute to the development of this nation and months later still haven’t been paid,” he said.
“This harmful practice cannot be allowed to continue.”
He said the outstanding balances included $56.7m in insurance for public servants; $45m for Water & Sewerage Corporation vendors; $30m to complete the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium; $19m to Doctor’s Hospital for COVID-19 emergency support; $6.4m in outstanding rent payments; $6m in outstanding legal claims and $4m to restore and refurbish public clinics.
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