by Rick Lowe
As stated in this blog titled NEMA - Help or false expectations? in October 2005, “NEMA will create as many false expectations here as FEMA has done in the US.”
In The Tribune of Tuesday, July 25, 2006, Mr. Mark Humes had a story under the headline “Minister of finance defends lack of emergency auditing.”
But never once did I think that the government would attempt to justify the lack of proper records for spending in excess of $20 million taxpayer dollars!
Let me rephrase that. How dare the government, the body that demands accountability from every business and individual with the threat of jail time, a fine, or both, be so brazen as to make excuses for the lack of accountability! We are not talking about $200 but $20,000,000! Some $14,000,000 dollars taken from the taxpayer and another $6,000,000 in direct donations from the community.
It is just unconscionable. Yes mistakes do happen and none of us are perfect. At least the country and donors should receive an apology along with the guarantee that the deficiencies that occurred with the accounting after last hurricane season will not be allowed to reoccur without consequences.
How’s this for justification? “The management of a national disaster has to do with the response to the disaster, rather than accounting for it.” This comment was attributed to Senator James Smith, but this must be a mistake?
Are there more revelations ahead whenever the Public Accounts Committee gets the documents they require to do their job?
This blogger can think of no better place on earth to live than The Bahamas, but we are fast headed down the slippery slope like other countries in the region and the world when taxpayers ignore basic accountability and transparency by their government.
