Photo: Hon. Konris Maynard.
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, May 4th 2017 – With two new government-tainted scandals brewing in St. Kitts and Nevis within one week, an opposition parliamentarian has called on citizens to help “follow the money” in the absence of a Public Accounts Committee in the National Assembly.
The Public Accounts Committee is named at the start of a new sitting of the lawmaking body, but Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris continues to flout the constitution by not naming the PAC, 24 months since the mid-February 2015 General Elections.
“In just two and a half years, this Team Unity Government has been saddled with overwhelming evidence of the highest levels of corruption and in any government in this part of the world,” West Basseterre Member of Parliament, Hon. Konris Maynard said Wednesday.
The parliamentarian listed among public concern, the EC$1 million spent on security equipment at the private home of Prime Minister Harris within a month of taking office; the handing over to Prime Minister Harris by the Venezuelan Government of a US$16 million check for payment to ex-sugar workers; (the Prime Minister says it is EC$16 million); the Stem Cell scandal at the J. N. France General Hospital; the allegation of EC$10 million in unaccounted PLP campaign funds; the EC$9 million increase in the cost of the new cruise ship pier originally tagged at EC$32 million and is now tagged at EC$41 million; the lump sum disbursement of EC$60 million from Social Security long before construction begun on new housing projects; the transfer of over EC$100 million from the Consolidated Fund in Basseterre to the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), called budgetary support without parliamentary approval; the payment of two salaries monthly to the Premier and Deputy Premier of Nevis, who are also members of the Federal Cabinet; the recent report of US$190,000 being paid to the authorises in St. Kitts and Nevis for the continued protection of a Chinese national wanted in China.
“They (Team Unity Government) reported to the nation that they received EC$16 million from the Venezuelan Government for ex-sugar workers. Credible reports from Venezuela and a copy of the check seen, suggest that the government received US$16 million. Where is the remainder of the million of US dollars? Follow the money,” Maynard told listeners.
“When we hear that the Peoples Labour Party cannot account for EC$10 million, where has that EC$10 million gone? Follow the money. When we hear of a stem cell scandal at our J.N. France General Hospital in an area with no policy or regulations for such activity and we hear that high net worth individuals were allowed fee access to our medical facility and that there were massive payouts, possibly in the millions, where has that money gone? We need to follow the money,” said Maynard, a first-term MP.
He also express concern over the registration of a business by a government minister to sell cement and building materials, prior to the government embarking on multi-million projects for the construction of houses with funds from the St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board and a second cruise pier at Port Zante.
“When we can hear of a million dollars spent for security on the Prime Minister’s private home with taxpayers’ money, we have to ask where is all this money going. When we have had plans to construct a new pier at EC$32 million and it is now going to cost EC$41 million, where is the extra EC$9 million going? When we can hear that chairperson of the Social Security Board resigned to protest government directive for the immediate release of EC$60 million for the government’s housing programme long before construction begins, we have to ask where is this money going?” asked the West Basseterre MP.
He also cited the payment of two salaries monthly to the Premier and the Deputy Premier of Nevis, who are also Cabinet ministers in the Federal Government.
“The Nevis Island Administration has received over EC$100 million in budgetary support from the Federal Government, without discussion in the Parliament. We have to follow the money and ask where is the money going,” said Maynard.
He also made reference to the Federation’s two newest scandals – the request by a Chinese national in St. Kitts to his family in China for an additional US$190,000 to help to continue pay for what he reportedly described as his protection by Kittitian authorities and the payment of US$53,000 to prominent Washington lobbyist, Lanny Davis during the first six moths of 2016, when Prime Minister Harris told parliament in December 2015 that his services were at no cost to the government.
“This government is completely saddled in corruption,” said Maynard, pointing out that the failure of Prime Minister Harris to appoint a Public Accounts Committee, which is task withoverseeing governmentexpenditures, and to ensure they are effective and honest, cannot discharge its constitutional duties.
“The Public Accounts Committee cannot even inquire into the whether or not the first living national hero is receiving whether it is EC$10,000, EC$15,000 or EC$20,000 monthly. There is no Public Accounts Committee to check that. Whether it is to check how the EC$1 million was spent on security for the private home of the Prime minister, the PAC cannot check that,” said Maynard.
He said there is no justifcation by the Prime Minister for his failure to follow the tenets of the Constution and appoint the Public Accounts Committee in his capacity as the Minister of Finance.
“They (Team Unity Government) do not want us to follow the money,” said Maynard.
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