Former Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Doctor Daniel Johnson yesterday said that the Auditor General of The Bahamas dropped the ball in auditing the affairs of the National Sports Authority.
A report released recently showed a number of discrepancies in the accounting of the affairs of the Authority.
Mr. Johnson, appearing on the Radio Love 97 Programme “On Point”, said that there is no impropriety on his part in anything he has done in public life.
On accusations that expenditures to support stadium readiness upgrades lacked transparency, strategic management was inadequate, and contacts lacked formalized process and transparency; Mr. Johnson said that is something always for the audit department of the government to be involved in on an ongoing basis.
“That’s every year. That’s not ten years later. Every year they’re to look at the operations you’re doing and improve operational efficiency. That’s not a ministerial portfolio job.”, he said.
The former Member of Parliament for Carmichael added, “if they [the auditor general] noticed that from 2011, they should have insinuated in that process.”
However, Mr. Johnson also noted that his comments implied anything untoward the auditor general.
The report also noted that the procurements process lacked levels of delegation authority and, as a result, under the contract may not have been properly monitored to ensure that deliverables were fulfilled before payments were given.
Mr. Johnson responded by saying this can be the case in any procurement process.
He said, “we put on a number a mega events. When those things are coming and we have international standards to reach.
“At one point, we had Iran and Israel sitting about 15 feet apart from each other in our stands. Well, we had to get some security measures in place to meet their standard.”, he added.
The report also noted that a contract was signed on February 16th 2014 for fencing the National Stadium.
A company was selected based on their lowest bid of $275,000. It further explains that the attached invoice totaled $308,000 or $33,500 more.
That stands at 12.3 percent over the approved contract.
Additionally, none of the invoices were authorized by an agent of the company. On that point, Mr. Johnson said that those types of things do not come before a Minister.
However, in a letter to the editor of the Nassau Guardian, the former Youth, Sports, And Culture Minister said he takes full and unmitigated responsibility for the conduct of affairs, administration and protocols of the ministry during his tenure.
Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis told reporters that the Auditor General’s report is being studied by the government.
