Opposition Leader Criticizes Government's Influence on Public Accounts Committee Decisions

Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne has voiced his frustration with the Government’s majority on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), claiming it is hindering its ability to function effectively as an oversight body.

However, one member from the PAC from the ruling administration says nothing could be further from the truth.

During a press conference Thursday at the Opposition Leader’s Office on Hincks Street, The City, Thorne revealed that during a recent PAC meeting, the Government members voted to prioritise an old investigation into the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) from 2019 over what he deemed the more recent and pressing housing issue.

He said the recent Auditor General’s Report into cost overruns for the construction of Chinese houses was still fresh in the mind of the public. He described the five-year-old BWA matter as “spent” and of lesser interest to Barbadians.

“We went there intending to place [housing] high on the agenda for investigation by a Public Accounts Committee in a public hearing. I am unhappy to report to you that the Government members of that committee felt that the matter should go to a vote . . . and that we should go back to a Barbados Water Authority matter that was started when Bishop [Joseph] Atherley was Opposition Leader,” Thorne said.

“I came here on a previous occasion and I promised this country that the Public Accounts Committee, under my chairmanship, would pursue investigations which the people of Barbados feel are due for investigation. I promised this country that we would look at the question of housing.”

The PAC is comprised of Members of Parliament Marsha Caddle, Corey Lane, Edmund Hinkson, Kerrie Symmonds and Colin Jordan. From the Senate, the Government representatives are Senators Lisa Cummins, Chad Blackman and Gregory Nicholls. Senator Crystal Drakes is the lone Independent, while the Opposition comprises its two representatives, Senators Ryan Walters and Tricia Watson.

Nicholls, in refuting Thorne’s charge, told a Nation team: “There is no single member of the Public Accounts Committee who has voted or suggested that the matter of the report on housing should not be investigated by the committee. Not a single member has indicated that they are in opposition to it.

“In fact, every single member has agreed that it is a matter . . . that all the reports by the Opposition, including that one, should be dealt with,” he added.

Thorne accused Government of being reluctant to investigate the Home Ownership Providing Energy (HOPE) project, a company he characterised as a private entity that received significant public funds but failed to deliver on its promises. He said the Government was now shifting its stance and reverting to the National Housing Corporation, which he claimed it had previously abandoned in favour of HOPE.

“I complained during the Budget Debate that it seemed as if the Government was marginalising the National Housing Corporation . . . . . For all intents and purposes, HOPE has collapsed,” he said.