Negative findings by the Auditor General in many government departments have been ignored. So what is the value of Audit and Financial controls? The gravy train will roll for the boys in the know, and many necessary projects will remain incomplete.

"However, Mr Christie maintained that the money will be well accounted for using measures that are already enshrined in law."
Does anyone else get a strong sense of irony in this statement by our P.M.? The same measures that permit unaccounted millions to disappear from government apparatus every year?

When I heard PM speaking about safeguards on the radio, I turned it off in disgust. Does he really think we are that stupid. Are we that stupid? This man is making me feel like a fool each and every day I live under his rule. His words are now so infuriating to me. If other Bahamians are happy with this mess, then maybe I should just leave. It really has become intollerable.

Did you buy his koolaid in 2012 about "Believe in Bahamians"?????? ...... We got what gullible Bahamians who thought that HAI was a dictator ......... now you got an old wishy-washy kleptocrat

I'm finally starting to get the PM's humour. "We will ensure that the funds are used properly!" My God that's a knee slapper. And... I understand his shows in the House of Assembly are free? What a glorious leader!!! 5 more years please.

Comrades! The Rt. Honourable Prime Minister says nothing about.... First we must begin to fix a system to remove the incentive from those who will handle the $150 million hurricane relief moneys to be corrupt. It's called publicly expose, charge, try and put those found guilty on the damn bus up to Fox Hill.
PM, how can you justify the borrowing of another $150 million, when the "politically privileged" can well afford to repay the $100 million they have refused to repay The Bank Of The Bahamaland, pay their taxes, government financial obligations, or for lights from BEC?
PM does it matter if there may be persons owing moneys to the bank but not paying but still allowed to serve in your cabinet....Or the politically connected who have been appointed to various political positions by the PLP government?

Where is the BAMSI money????????? .......... Where is the Bahamasair money????............. Where is the BOB money?????............ Where is the Post Office, Urban Renewal, RTD, PHA, EDUC, COB, NIB, Joaquin money etc, etc, etc ????????? ............ There are NO controls or accountability in our government/public accounts .......... that is why we are $7+Billion in public debt

Bahamapundit i agree with you. To see or hear this crooked arrogant man is sickening. He really takes Bahamian people for idiots. His image and sound is intolerable to me!!!!!!!!!!

You bought the PLP koolaid as well?????????

I call BULLSHIT! Under your watch this nation has been plundered by thieves and you have done NOTHING! where is the 47 million from road traffic, the 10 million from social sevices, and the list goes on, you fucking asshole!

Jobs will be given to the party faithful, there will be no estimates or competitive bidding and as for accountability, these guys couldn't get pay for a round of drinks without loosing track of the cost. Carnival-looses money two years on the trot but now we hear it was never intended to make a profit, and the list goes on and on and on.

What you think gonna happen when the government cannot afford to pay the civil servants anymore because they cannot borrow any money???????

That is a real possibility soon ................ SMH

**The PAC committee and the auditor general, CANNOT be the accountability that this government oroposes for 150 million dollars, they have said so themselves, THE AUDITOR GENERAL NOR THE PAC ARE ALLOWED TO SPEAK ON THE MATTER OF PUBLIC FUNDS UNLESS THEY "ALLOW" IT. How is that accountability?**

April 24, 2015: "*HOUSE Speaker Dr Kendal Major was “shocked” and “taken aback” by a legal opinion the Office of the Attorney General sought from international and local attorneys about the legality of the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) investigations into Urban Renewal.*

*When contacted about the legal opinion, which The Tribune has obtained, Dr Major called the action “unprecedented”.*

*Dr Major, who has said he sees no problem with the PAC’s handling of the matter, said he would meet parliamentary clerks Monday morning to determine a course of action.*

*The legal opinion said: “While it is clear that the PAC, in the general performance of the duties allocated to it by the House may require the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents, the purported exercise of power in the instant case if ultra vires the powers and functions of the PAC, procedurally flawed, contrary to the statutory and constitutional principles regulating public finances, and raises the spectre of interference with the constitutional functions of the auditor general.”*

*It added that the PAC lacks the power to request that the auditor general conduct specific audits of government departments or other bodies and that attempts to apply this power runs contrary to the “constitutional functions and special immunity given to the auditor general under the Constitution.*”

*PAC Chairman Hubert Chipman has previously confirmed that the committee asked the auditor general to investigate Urban Renewal and its Small Homes Repair Programme.*

*The report also says that the “PAC’s ability to send for ‘persons, papers and records’ may only be exercised in the performance of its functions, which are confined to examining and reporting on reports or financial statements which have been laid before the House.”*

*The report notes that the audit in question was not tabled in the House of Assembly before it was leaked to the media.*"

This is mind boggling

*Mr Davis acknowledged that the project’s execution **did NOT follow normal government protocols**, a major critique of the audit; however, he explained that **this was an intentional decision** made by the executive to circumvent bureaucratic inertia and provide immediate relief.*

*Given discrepancies highlighted by the ministry’s report, Mr Davis suggested that Public Accounts Committee Chairman Hubert Chipman may wish to interview Mr Bastian over the veracity of some of the findings in his report.*

What will they justify in the use of the 150 million to "circumvent bureaucratic inertia"? And then he suggested Hubert Chipman interview Bastian to see if the report was truthful. This is an attack on Mr Bastian's integrity, from the deputy prime minister!??

**............................ RBC ‘Checks In Place’ *For Friends, Family & Lovers!* ......................**

For once PM Christie is telling the truth. We can believe him 100% on this one.