EDITOR, The Tribune.


Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Hubert Chipman said that the committee has met three times in 29 months.

Some local entrepreneurs meet with their senior staff members more than three times a week.

Isn’t the PAC supposed to be keeping tabs on government spending? What sense does it make for the opposition to be upset over the high spending by the PLP governing party when they chair a committee that has the power to subpoena reports, investigate them and report back to the Bahamian public, but are not doing so?

Chipman’s excuse was that there is difficulty attaining the meeting quota of three members and this is why the PAC did not meet more often.

To put this kindly, this excuse is indeed an insult to the Bahamian people.

But this is the kind of deteriorating performance that is allowed to fester in the Bahamas. There is no accountability on either side of the divide and this is why we find ourselves in this quagmire.

In a country where we have at least six combined downgrades by Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s (S&P) in the last seven years with other downgrades looming, one would think that the PAC would be the watchdog on how the Bahamian people’s limited financial resources are being spent.

But sadly, the PAC like other committees, is ineffective and is not serving the purpose for which it was intended.

DEHAVILLAND MOSS

Nassau,

October 20, 2014.