By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER cabinet minister accused Prime Minister Perry Christie of evading his responsibility to account for the use of public funds during his European visit and the CHOGM meeting in Sri Lanka.

Expressing concern over elements of Prime Minister Christie’s recent overseas trip “at considerable cost to the Bahamian public”, former National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest said in a statement that instead of responding to these reasonable concerns in his 
capacity as head of government and as Minister of Finance, “Mr. Christie is evading his responsibility to account for the use of public funds with flippant, irrelevant remarks.”

“When called upon by the media to account for the size of his delegation and the cost to the Public Treasury for the extravagance of his travel to Sri Lanka, along with side trips to Rome and London, Mr. Christie did not offer the sort of explanation required of his office,” the former national security minister said.
“What was the size of his delegation to CHOGM? Was he in Rome for other meetings which coincided with his approximately 20-minute audience with the Roman Catholic Pope? What was the cost of the accommodations for him and his delegation while in Rome and in London? What was the overall cost of this trip? “

On Friday, in announcing that the government is moving forward with plans to implement Value Added Tax next year, Prime Minister Christie fired back at Deputy FNM leader Loretta Butler-Turner, who demanded full disclosure of the costs associated with the trip to Sri Lanka, London and the Vatican, where Mr Christie had an audience with the Pope.

He said: “For me (the trip) was extraordinarily beneficial. I wasn’t in South Africa and I wasn’t travelling around to look at football, and nobody is going to ask about that anyhow that’s irrelevant. I was at the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference. I went to Rome to see the Pope.”

While he could not confirm the cost of the trip, Mr Christie said the tour was within the budget allocated for travel, and said he cut two ministers from the contingent, Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe and Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna-Martin.

Mr Christie said he met up with Mrs Hanna-Martin in London to take part in an event hosted by The Bahamas Shipowners Association, who are in talks to provide financial assistance for Bahamians to pursue maritime careers.

He also held extensive meetings with the principals of the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the Hutchinson Whampoa Group, the owners of the Freeport Container Port.

While in Rome, Mr Christie said he also discussed the possibility of bringing the luxury hotel brand, Waldorf Astoria to the Bahamas.

“Yes it is expensive to stay in Rome,” Mr Christie said, “but the Prime Minister of the Bahamas walking into the sanctuary of the Pope and knowing the news will go worldwide on Vatican radio and television, that in itself is priceless for the Bahamas.”

Yesterday, Mr Turnquest admitted that Mr Christie, as the prime minister, “has a responsibility to attend certain international events and to travel on behalf of the country.”

He added, however, that the prime minister has an equal responsibility to account for spending on foreign travel, including the size of his delegations when overseas considering the country’s current fiscal challenges and budgetary constraints.

Instead of accounting for his use of public funds during his recent travels, Mr Turnquest said, “Mr. Christie wrongly and incompetently compared the cost of his travels to that of a trip to South Africa in the summer of 2010 by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.”

“The facts are clear. That trip to South Africa was not paid for from the Public Treasury,” Mr Turnquest said, adding that he accompanied Mr Ingraham on the trip, which was also an invitation of FIFA, the World Football Association.

The former MP for Mount Moriah further noted that an inquiry into the trip “would have shown that Mr. Ingraham’s airline ticket to South Africa was paid for from his personal funds.”

“My travel was similarly paid for privately and not by the Government of The Bahamas,” he added.

Mr Turnquest concluded that the public has a right to such information from its elected officials and the prime minister, especially considering that Mr Christie “is proceeding with plans to further tax the Bahamian public during difficult economic times with the rushed introduction of a new VAT tax regime.”