Minister blaming FNM in road traffic row ‘a sad excuse’

Thursday, May 12, 2016

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

DNA Leader Branville McCartney yesterday blasted Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin for seeking to blame a previous FNM administration for the chronic financial problems plaguing the Road Traffic Department.

Mr McCartney, in a statement, said blaming the former Ingraham administration for the Road Traffic Department’s (RTD) woes is a “sad excuse” on Mrs Hanna Martin’s part since she has had ministerial oversight of the department “for nine years out of the last 14 years” and “more particularly for the last four years”.

Mr McCartney also questioned if the police probe into the department’s operations would yield any fruitful results, pointing to several seemingly unsolved scandals involving missing or misappropriated government funds, with at least one of those scandals involving a department directly under Mrs Hanna Martin’s ministerial purview.

Mr McCartney’s statements were in response to Mrs Hanna Martin’s statements in the House of Assembly on Monday in response to a newly released auditor general’s report that revealed that millions of dollars in losses from vehicle license revenue resulting from employees and motorists “circumventing rules and regulations.”

Mrs Hanna Martin has acknowledged that the department has long been plagued with “repeated age-old issues” and that the Christie administration had previously tried to address the issues plaguing the department with plans for modernisation.

Mrs Hanna Martin said by the end of the Christie administration’s previous term a request for proposal process (RFP) had reached the final stage and a firm was selected in principle from eight proposals to implement an automated motor vehicle and driver’s license system.

However, she said that process was rejected and abandoned by the former Ingraham administration, allowing for the deteriorating state of affairs at the department to “not only continue, but indeed accelerate at an exponential rate.”

Mr McCartney said yesterday: “Blaming the former administration is a sad excuse. The PLP is the government and as this minister used to loudly say to the then government when she was in opposition, ‘fix it.’”

And, despite pledges by Road Traffic Controller Ross Smith that officials are prepared to prosecute those involved in the scandal to the fullest extent of the law, Mr McCartney expressed doubt that the government would live up to its word.

In particular, Mr McCartney referred to last year’s move by the government to summon the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) to probe the findings of Auditor General Terrence Bastian’s report on alleged fraud and other irregularities at the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB). At the time, Mrs Hanna Martin, the minister responsible for the post office, acknowledged the need for a “radical shift” in oversight “required for what in fact is a critical financial institution” in the country.

However, Mr McCartney said the government has since “been quiet as a church mouse with regards to that police probe.”

“We, the Bahamian people, are the ones paying for all of this misappropriation of funds,” Mr McCartney added. “Our children will also have to pay. We, as Bahamians, are suffering day in and day out, but yet we accept this foolishness. The reality is that if we had good governance with proper checks and balances in our system of governance and on our political leaders we would not be in this mess.”

Mr Bastian’s audit, which covers the period July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015, was tabled in the House of Assembly on Monday. It focused on vehicle license revenue and payroll processing.

The report said: “In order for the RTD to forecast revenue for motor vehicles, it would be essential for a register of information on the number of registered vehicles to be maintained. Due to RTD being in contravention of its Act in this regard, the determinable amount of revenue that would be due to the government in any given year is unknown.

“If a forecast would be performed based on the total number of licence plates produced and issued, approximately 374,000 plates, to the public as of June 30, 2015, one would estimate that the motor vehicle licence revenue should be at a minimum of $73m (374,000 x $195) instead of the reported average of $26m per annum.

“If the approximate number of 374,000 plates was reduced by 50 per cent there would still be an estimated loss of $10m as compared to the actual recorded revenue noted herein,” Mr Bastian noted.

Comments

Well_mudda_take_sic says...

When it comes to what little is now left of the FNM party, Minnis is the entire problem, period! Most Bahamian voters know Minnis is the devil incarnate, or as one former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives recently said: "Lucifer in the flesh!" No one in their right mind would ever vote for Minnis or any other FNM candidate as long as Minnis remains in any way involved with the leadership of the FNM party, a party he has personally made irrelevant and near extinct. Bahamians voters can only hope a reputable independent candidate of good character, with no allegiance whatsoever to the PLP, FNM or DNA, decides to run in their constituency in the next general election. Now more than ever is the time for decent, hard working, honest Bahamians who are fed up with the corruption and incompetence of the PLP, FNM and DNA, to step into the arena of politics in our country to serve (for the benefit of) their fellow Bahamians.

Posted 12 May 2016, 10:40 a.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

Bran is very correct in his view .......... he is looking more like a viable PM option by the day

Posted 12 May 2016, 10:52 a.m. Suggest removal

Honestman says...

Agreed, but he needs a party and some big hitting potential ministers. Maybe time to entice those disaffected FNM's? When he has a group that could resemble a party then he needs to hold a convention and have all senior positions voted on. Unfortunately, he is running out of time for May 2017.

Posted 12 May 2016, 12:44 p.m. Suggest removal

justthefactsplease says...

Do you realize that it is these same "big hitters" who now have us in this mess...I am quite comfortable with honest "small men" running this country. They can't do worse than this bunch.

Posted 13 May 2016, 10:54 a.m. Suggest removal

Can anyone tell me what Hanna Martin has achieved in her 9 years of overseeing the Road Traffic Department?

Posted 12 May 2016, 12:45 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

**Jet Ski fiasco, Post Office fiasco, Road Traffic fiasco, Doppler Radar fiasco**. How many more fiascos will the leadership tolerate?

Posted 12 May 2016, 1:19 p.m. Suggest removal

Exactly .............. with no repercussions from the PM ........ The Ministers are slack because the PM is toothless ............ it is a sad and pathetic example of Westminster-style governance.......... just compare what happens in the more advanced Westminister-style governments of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand when these kinds of cock-ups take place in the various Ministries of government ...... the Minister resigns or is fired

Posted 12 May 2016, 1:29 p.m. Suggest removal

The PLP cabinet is a Mafia type organisation. Once you are "in" you never leave and you never criticise your fellow "made men". Christie cannot sack anyone because in all likelihood he knows too much and too much is known about him. What other conclusion can be reached?

Posted 12 May 2016, 2:05 p.m. Suggest removal

TalRussell says...

Comrades doesn't it seem like Bran's softening approach toward his former red party, does signal he is preparing his return under the red tent?
Only question is, will Bran be returning by he lonesome self, or as the DNA party?

Posted 12 May 2016, 2:32 p.m. Suggest removal

It is about time to right the FNM ship if there is a chance to win in 2017 ........ What if Perry calls the election in January to celebrate Majority Rule 50th anniversary???? ............ The FNM better get their act together

Posted 12 May 2016, 2:38 p.m. Suggest removal

Comrade SheepRunner12 let's not forget that Pindling and Milo were politically rewarded
with successive voter majorities in return for their many their many years following great sacrifices on behalf of their poltifal causes.
I hope you're not about to suggest that either Bran or Loretta have made sacrifices? If so, name their political causes -excluding self promotion.
I don't think writing press releases from behind your Village Road law offices desk does amounts to great political sacrifices.

Posted 12 May 2016, 3:03 p.m. Suggest removal

Wideawake says...

Fat chance of that! Don't hold your breath! Too busy operating the FNM version of the circular firing squad.

Posted 12 May 2016, 10:19 p.m. Suggest removal

Sheeprunner12...the FNM has no chance of winning in 2017...at the very least the DNA will play spoiler again as in 2012. The fact that the DNA are more organized than last time and seem to have better candidates thus far coupled with the FNM's self destruction means that the only way to get rid of the PLP is to vote DNA.

Posted 13 May 2016, 10:59 a.m. Suggest removal

Tal ......... please tell me what sacrifice did Ingraham make?????? ........ or are you counting his dissing SLOP over drug dealing??????

Posted 12 May 2016, 3:40 p.m. Suggest removal

Comrade the sacrifices ended right after Pindling, Milo, and I
will also add Randol Fawkes to those making great sacrifices.
The answer to your question does lies in asking Papa Hubert if he plans on celebrating
the nation's 50th?
Papa never beat Pindling to win the government, so get that important point straight
okay.

Posted 12 May 2016, 4:36 p.m. Suggest removal

Observer says...

What's in the report of the Auditor General for the period ended 30th June, 2012?

Posted 12 May 2016, 5:49 p.m. Suggest removal

Comrade Auditor General reported that during the period between July 1, 2011
and June 30, 2012 there a "large number of bills of lading were released by the Customs Department without evidence to suggest that duties were collected".
I wonder what Papa Hubert, Minnis, Loretta and Bran had say or was done about the missing customs import taxes moneys back then?
I done know the answer. Do you Comrades?

Posted 12 May 2016, 6:02 p.m. Suggest removal

themessenger says...

Tal, the biggest sacrifice made, the one you're conveniently overlooking, is the one made by the Bahamian people in having to live under the yoke of incompetent governance for so many years, the current administration in particular.

Posted 13 May 2016, 8:53 a.m. Suggest removal

Comrade TheMessenger you will get no argument from me. It is always the people who make the greater sacrifices.

Posted 13 May 2016, 11:34 a.m. Suggest removal

bogart says...

THIS MATTER OF $47,000,000. IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE BECAUSE THE PHYSICAL CASH MUST BE TRACED AS TO WHICH FINANCIAL INSTITUTION THE CASH HAS BEEN LAUNDERED THROUGH GIVEN THE PROCEEDS OF CRIME LAWS. $47,000,000. IS ALMOST $16,000,000. PER YEAR AND ALMOST $1,300,000. PER MONTH PASSING THROUGH SOME ACCOUNTS IN TERMS OF CASH.
QUESTION IS WHERE DID THE CASH OF $47,000,000 BEEN DEPOSITED AND WITHDRAWN IN SOME FINANCIAL BANKING INSTITUTION IN PORTIONS ADDING TO THIS AMOUNT ? ?

Posted 13 May 2016, 7:47 a.m. Suggest removal