It is appropriate BU returns to the issue of Freedom of Information (FOI) on the second anniversary of death of former Prime Minister David Thompson. The promise that FOI and Integrity Legislation would have been introduced by this government early in its term swayed BU and we supported the DLP in 2007. Sadly the government has not demonstrated the political will to implement transparency legislation. Five years later it is fair to describe the promise as a gimmick to win votes.
A big disappointment also has been the hypocrisy by local media concerning its reluctance to report on this matter. The Fourth Estate as a key member of civil society and should have identified the lack of FOI legislation as a natural cause given the nature of its business.
The short video confirms the importance of investigative journalism in a democratic system of government. Bear in mind FOI laws are on the books in the United Kingdom and Heather Brooke had to fight to unearth information which the public was entitled to know. When the information was eventually made public it resulted in several members of parliament being sent to prison.
In Barbados we continue to allow politicians to undermine the governance system.
@ Puzzled !! | October 29, 2012 at 6:44 PM |
.” If you dont know the basis upon which the lawyers claimed their fees , to speculate as you have done is nothing short of being nasty .”
The legal profession is the most corrupt, thieving, incompetent, overrated profession in Barbados. No wonder the state of justice and jurisprudence is at an awfully low level.
Your profession is the major cause of the international business sector not developing further. Go and clean up your profession and then you will work for and deserve the fees you charge.
What work Hal Gollop did more than the other lawyers? Write a few letters and fill in a few forms any good accountant or corporate secretary could do. Did he represent the BWA in a litigious matter before a judge?
We will see if he declares these large sums as income in his tax returns as is his legal and more importantly his moral obligation to do.
@ Puzzled !! | October 29, 2012 at 6:44 PM |
“……there is no way that a department of government would pay one lawyer FIVE TIMES MORE than another FOR DOING THE SAME DEGREE OF WORK . surely to be transparent a department would require an INVOICE before paying out that amount of money .”
Tell that to the Auditor General whose report into that same institution highlighted invoices that were paid but for which no corresponding good or services were received totalling hundred of thousands of dollars. What about the Coastal Zone Management Corruption scandal? Such open thieving through inflating invoices and billing for goods and services not received are rampant in the public sector and gladly approved and condone by politicians and their appointed lackeys called chairmen. This is one of the ways of bilking the taxpayers along with the award of contracts to the same crooks submitting the invoices.
I speak the truth here, Puzzled.
BTW, are you implying that the BWA paid for both sets of legal fees? Did the BWA pay also for Inotech legal fees? How do you know how much legal work was done on behalf of Inotech?
Just asking since I am “puzzled”!
@ miller
And how the hell do you know what any lawyer did in this matter that you can say that one lawyer’s work was nothing more than an accountant or corporate secretary could do ? What do you know at all about the project ? You are just being nasty .
As a matter of interest , you may wish to publish what the Auditor General had to say of the new headquarters project . What has this project got to do with the coastal zone project ? You are now not only nasty but openly illogical .
@ Puzzled:
“… surely to be transparent a department would require an INVOICE before paying out that amount of money….”
The above statement was made by you. What you are saying is a normative and a requirement under the Financial Administration and Audit (FAA) Act and applicable to government departments and agencies.
What you could also say to ensure proper internal controls and effective financial management is that evidence of receipt of goods and services listed in the invoice must be shown to have been received in good and satisfactory order before full disbursement of funds to settle the invoice.
Were these procedures followed at the BWA in the recent fraud case highlighted in the Auditor’s general report?
Have the Police been called in to investigate the matter with the intention of charging the people who committed the fraud?
In the absence of any evidence that action has been taken to deal with the fraud one can only conclude that there is “systemic” financial management failure at that organization leaving the ‘red’ door open for the potential of any corrupt invoicing activity to take place. The removal of an unlawfully appointed executive chairman won’t necessarily stop the leakage by the main players.
Well if you can’t see the link between the CZM scenario and the BWA fraud I sincerely and honestly offer my apologies for your misunderstanding, Sir.
But I was always of the misguided view that defrauding one government department through a total breach of the FAA Act would fall into the same category as a similar act of fraud that took place at another department using the same fraudulent techniques involving over invoicing and non-supply of goods and services.
I can assure you that there are many similar goings-on right across the public sector especially at statutory agencies. Why do you think the audited annual financial statements are years behind the legally required date of completion?
The question comes back to you ..What has fraud investigations in a previous BWA matter got to do with the Headquarters project that would allow you to make such definative statements about lawyers fees , work done to justify those fees etc, etc ? Why if you are so well informed about what work one lawyer , who you claim is being paid FIVE TIMES MORE money FOR DOING THE SAME WORK as the other lawyers involved in the project , was required to do don’t you publish the FACTS for the benefit of all readers to this blog ? I CHALLENGE YOU TO DO JUST THAT . should you fail to provide the FACTUAL INFORMATION I shall just continue to regard you as one NASTY person and ignore any further post on this matter BY YOU .
@Miller
Looking forward to the BLP’s Manifesto. Can we expect some focus to be placed on improving the financial discipline of the public service by making it more efficient in how financials are produced to time?
We can’t seriously discuss improving the management of the affairs of Barbados by successive governments ignoring the financial rules.
@ Puzzled !! | October 30, 2012 at 8:01 AM |
When Chris Sinckler and Donville Inniss disclose the source of the evidence they have to the effect that the BLP intend to fire 10,000 from the public sector I will “publish the facts” surrounding the legal fees demanded from BWA consumers. Until then we remain apart in tacit disagreement awaiting the outcome of suit Inotech vs BWA for breach of contract.
As a “Christian” man, like your client HG, you must be familiar with the following:
“Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
Miller it is not only me that knows how nasty a sleeze ball you are talking a lot of bu…ll shit all day and nite now you in here talking as if you know all the facts about the legalities involved with hal gallop you are the biggest reason why people should not vote for the corrupt BLP for indeed you have proven yourself to be one of the biggest unethical liars of them all now stop spreading propaganda about chris and estwick you musty ole chink
@ David | October 30, 2012 at 8:15 AM |
I am very much peeved at these government owned agencies for the flagrant lack of discipline and blatant violation of the financial rules and regulations. Mr. Puzzled might not agree with me but I don’t care.
How can a country that boast of having many educated people and trained people in the field of accounting tolerate such level of incompetence?
There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever. Both political parties continuously brag about their commitment to ICT and its benefits for the effective management of the public sector. So why can’t the financials, which are the main ingredient for the efficient management of these corporations, be produced in a timely manner?
Or is it a case of corruption being so endemic that there is a deliberate intent to cover fraud and misappropriation of funds leaving it to the other administration to handle like a hot potato?
@ ac | October 30, 2012 at 8:50 AM |
” you musty ole chink”
Ac, I love that one! Brilliant, indeed!
You see what you get when you suck the infected blood of ac! You must be feeling that bite you received in the middle of your garden.
If Sinckliar is man enough let him say again that the BLP intend to lay off 10,000 workers. He could leak it to the rag sheet Nation like the letter from the Eager 11, the BWA gag order or the Inotech spanner in the works.
@ miller
there ain’t any inotech spanner in the works. inotech still building and committed to completing the project from what we hear.
why you don’t ask osa to call the PAC meeting for the Pierhead Marina, is it cause you know that there ain’t nothing wrong with the project plus the licks from Stuart and Sinckler over the Dodds Fraud cause him to rethink that plan of attack?
Yuh jerk chris he did repeat the statement at the meeting sunday night yuh tink somebody gonna let OSA stop them from speaking the truth with a frivilous lawsuit.
@ ac | October 30, 2012 at 10:07 AM |
So why not post your usual recordings of his unclear ranting and let us hear him repeat it himself instead of via a lying medium called ac.
1 billion dollars in cost overruns and the BLP trying to call out people on finances what a nerve!