Review starting with food assistance program
“We just want to make sure everything is okay”
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Auditor General Terrance Bastian said yesterday that the Office of the Auditor General “must” review the government’s pandemic spending spanning back to March 2020, noting that a review has begun of the former administration’s food assistance program.
While he said the audit had not reached the stage of being able to report to the public, the review of the program and other pandemic spending is ongoing.
“We are looking at it as I stand here,” Bastian said at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) during its weekly press briefing yesterday.
“We’ve been requesting information from the beginning.
“We have some files in office now that we would have requested on the food program.
“So, we are checking into [it].
“It’s our duty to make sure we know exactly how the money is spent, so we are looking at some of that.”
Asked if there were concerns about the food program, Bastian said he had nothing to report at this time.
“No, I don’t have anything to report now that was a particular concern,” he said.
“We just want to make sure everything is okay.”
In January, OPM Director of Communications Latrae Rahming said an investigation launched into the Minnis administration’s National Food Distribution Program and its spending concluded that there was not sufficient documentation to account for how the $54 million was spent.
He said after auditors interviewed government officials and internal parties, there was a significant lack of information that spoke to the government’s interaction and relationship with the NGOs in the food program.
The program was established in 2020 in response to concerns about access to food across The Bahamas in the early phases of the pandemic.
The program ended in January.
The opposition has urged the government to relaunch the program.
According to officials, the 18,000 households benefiting from the most recent phase of the program will be absorbed into the Department of Social Services’ programs.
According to Bastian, other audits are ongoing for the Civil Aviation Authority, the Port, the Customs Department, the Department of Meteorology and the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI).
As it relates to his office, Bastian said he is still seeking to increase human resources and improve technology.
Asked whether compliance has improved from government agencies and ministries to produce information for auditor general reports, Bastian said it has not been perfect, but compliance has improved.
“It might not be where we want it to be, but it’s improving,” he said.
