NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority (BPPPBA) board of directors member Eric Carey said yesterday that the board did not meet for the period covered in the audit report released last week, despite requests to do so.
He acknowledged the deficiency as a “red flag” but said he was therefore unable to speak to the cost overruns of the authority’s budget or the award of contracts.
“We really were operating without any active involvement in the affairs that are now being reported on with respect to numbers of contracts, implications, overspending, reporting by the managing director — none of those things happened because the board did not meet and did not function for the entirety of that period which is being reported on,” said Carey, who is also the executive chairman of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT).
Asked how concerning this was and whether there were requests for the board to meet, Carey said there were requests for meetings that he and other board members made.
“It is concerning,” he said.
“When you sit on these government boards, it is a statutory role and the BNT has several statutory roles on several government boards.
“It is concerning because you are obviously representing and therefore protecting the reputation of the organization, so when there are issues that represent deficiencies in government or board administration, board performance, it is a concern and it does raise a red flag and that would be the reason why we would have asked for and sought to have meetings.”
A report produced by K Christie and Co Chartered Accountants revealed a combination of “material weaknesses” and “significant deficiencies” that it said created an environment to facilitate overruns.
There just wasn’t the best governance and management of the major affairs that are now being reported on.
– Eric Carey, board member
The authority repeatedly went over its budget by millions; had irregularities related to the issuance of contracts; did not require know-your-customer (kyc) identification from vendors to be placed on file; multiple contracts were issued to individuals using different company names; and the board failed to meet regularly and require certain reports, such as budget versus actual performance.
Carey said the encumbrances of the pandemic, which prevented in-person meetings, and the absence of virtual board meetings, with the exception of one in December, “meant that there just wasn’t the best governance and management of the major affairs that are now being reported on”.
According to Press Secretary Clint Watson, the authority will terminate all existing contracts in a legal manner and pay every vendor with a valid contract.
The final report is expected to be tabled in Parliament in January.
Shanendon Cartwright, the former executive chairman of the authority, said since assuming office, “established protocols were followed” at the authority and throughout his tenure.
Function
The authority was enacted and constituted in late 2014, and began its work in early 2015 — with two years under the Christie administration and four and a half years under the previous Minnis administration.
According to Carey, the award of contracts was inherited from the roads and parks division of the Ministry of Works, where there was not sufficient manpower to provide upkeep of all the roadsides, verges, beaches and parks.
“It’s something that was inherited as an important part of the authority’s function, but it was not intended to be the most important part of the authority’s function,” he said.
He said under the leadership of Greg Burrows and former Minister of the Environment Kenred Dorsett, it was the intention to build capacity within the authority to reduce reliance on “this inherited contract scheme”.
Analysis was planned to determine how much more efficiency could be gained, but Carey said it was never done.
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