Hon. Fahie: New hospital project drained Treasury
He made this disclosure while he was speaking on the motion to review the Protocols for Effective Financial Management last evening, July 3, 2012 in the House of Assembly which was passed with amendments.
According to him, it struck him hard when a nine year-old asked him as they passed the hospital if it was not finished.
“When I told her no, she said okay but Marias just done build a whole hotel…so what could I tell the child I just come out of Government….two administrations gone. We had two loans that we were supposed to get, Social Security and when the NDP [was in 2003 – 2007] it had made arrangements with a bank which was not finalised but the project was started.
“Hear what happened Madame Speaker, because the loan was not received the treasury carried the load for the hospital project. We are talking about a $64M project, we started at $64M but I knew that hospital project would cost us about $125M, I always knew that. The treasury was gasping for air because the money for the loan was never paid in and during our administration when the money was finally paid in we were told that the money that came out of the Treasury for the hospital project will be paid back into the consolidated fund,” Hon. Fahie stated.
So confident is he that the district representative is willing to debate anyone on it because it is something he has been watching carefully.
“...I don’t want that this boy name in nothing that he broke no country, mash it up …When the money from the loan could not be paid back like what we were thinking, the bank let us know about the stipulations, right then I feel like I could have grown a tail and two ears,” Hon. Fahie recalled.
He added that the opposition usually has to take the constant verbal battering for the millions of dollars from the Treasury that should have come from a loan. According to him, he had asked the leader of the opposition Hon. Ralph T O’Neal, OBE to set the record straight, who had replied he did not want to go “a war of words”.
Motion on financial protocol passed with amendments
Meanwhile, a little after 10 p.m. last evening, the motion, which was brought to the House by 3rd District Representative, Hon. Julian Fraser RA, was passed with amendments and paved the way for a special committee to review the protocols.
Hon. Fraser when contacted this morning July 4, 2012 said he was pleased that he accomplished his objective and looks forward to the committee doing its work.
According to him, the members for the special committee will be selected by the Speaker of the House and the leader of Government.
Premier Dr. D. Orlando Smith; Deputy Premier Dr. Kedrick Pickering; Hon. O’Neal; Minister for Communications and Works Hon. Mark Vanterpool; Minister for Education and Culture Hon. Myron Walwyn; 2nd District Representative Hon. Alvin Christopher; 5th District Representative Hon. Delores Christopher debated the motion.
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