An elderly man with dementia was reported missing on Grand Bahama, hope it's not related

General comment: we need an independent Police commissioner who carries out his duty irrespective of who might be in the crossfire, just as the auditor general does. My how the whole country is praising the auditor general for his good work, the sum total of what every tax payer requests of paid public officials

I dont know that he's incompetent. He seems inexperienced by his comments, for example insinuating that the auditor was below him and therefore "disrespectful" was odd. But his inexperience was a given when he was put in the post. He's never held an executive position at any major private company before assuming this post. On this item he fell to the same monster as Adrian Gibson, bandying the title rather than relying on an experienced aide. I'd say this appears to be an issue with the permanent staff who should have guided the minister, if they did and he ignored it, then your point taken

"*BahaJrs have a 1-3-12 record*"

The teams are not on the same level. The scoring is evidence of that more so than UB's skill.

Oh oh. Hope it's not related

The auditor didnt allege fraud. My viewpoint, actually any reasonable person's viewpoint, is that the repeated padding of contracts and random hiring practices by both administrations remember Shenandon Cartwright, everybody does this? They are a fertile breeding ground for fraud

"*Munroe replied that Mr Pintard should get legal advice from “a good FNM lawyer” to understand the “folly” of that request. He did not explain this assertion, although it likely relates to the Government’s desire to keep the details of PwC’s work confidential given that arbitration proceedings with the GBPA appear imminent.*"

I wish a good lawyer would explain this. Because by definition nothing in the report produced by Pwc would be secret. Its an accounting of govt services rendered and the associated cost and govt revenue collected

This auditor general has certainly proven his ability to execute his review function and to report facts as they are irrespective of politics.

It would be good if his office could also perform an operational control function, there is that new unit they created to oversee all govt projects the Delivery Unit, I believe Jerome Fitzgerald is now in charge. But something isnt working as it should as these abuses and anomalies continue to happen. To add a control function he would need more budget and more staff.

The cost for the added responsibility is something the public would get behind as in the end it would mean we dont hear about 6million dollar cost overruns on a sporting event that really shouldnt have many surprise costs as these are run over and over by us and others every year. over time the new function will pay for itself in the money we save from unjustifiable project padding.

This of course on the assumption that the role appointment doesnt fall prey to politics

"*100 temporary staff hired by the carifta Games Company Ltd, which was incorporated to organise the championships, were “assigned tasks unrelated to” the event, the report also detailed how $136,000 was lost on a Gospel concert that “bore no relevance” to track and field*"

These are common and under analyzed feeding grounds for corruption.

**The best way to commit fraud is to attach your money skimming activity to an initiative that has a "Good" cause**. Who can argue with spending more than expected on feeding hungry children or supporting our athletes? But nobody in govt recognizes the damage from the mismanagement, who will trust you with a bunch of money even for a good cause again?

Secondly this thing about giving out jobs on slack needs to stop. Yes people need to work, but who determines who gets to work? Are only the minister or ruling party's constituents eligible? Who determines that those with greatest need received? Or was it those with the best relationships? Who determines that the individual did "something" and it wasnt just a freebie to buy goodwill for the next election? Who determines that it wasnt fraud? Could a worker have taken half of the pay for doing nothing and handed back half as a thank you?

None of these are alledged, the point is the loose nature of these continuous Cracker Jack prize contracts by both parties opens the door for all of these aberrations to happen. Then the MP gets up in parliament and says why y'all coming down on me, this what we is do. You have to wonder would if they do the same with their own money. Hire double the people to clean their house and hard and be incapable of saying who did what or if the grass cut.

Finally the prostitution of religion has to stop as well. We dont need to subsidize gospel concerts all over the place because the minister likes gospel. Theyve never proven to bring in any tourist traffic or turn a profit

"*a 24-hour power outage knocked out all the area’s utilities and Internet service.*

I recall the 12 hour power outage after the BEC fire and the 14hr outage one of the hurricanes. 24 hours without power and then regular outages over the week.

Not sure if the govt should be lobbying to take over Freeport. The first thing that would happen is all of the utility companies would get double the staff complement overnight. the second thing that would happen the Board would be loaded with people who either barely finish high school or have no executive experience to offer, like Adrian Gibson they would immediately clash with the technocrats. Over time Freeport would be just as semi dysfunctional as Nassau.