Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Hubert Chipman yesterday gave an update on his call for a public hearing concerning the construction of the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI).

Mr. Chipman called for the public hearing nearly a month ago and he has since written to Speaker of the House of Assembly Kendal Major, who informed him that although he approves, it is not in his budget to fund a public hearing and permission would have to be given by the prime minister.

“I have written to the speaker who has since written to the prime minister,” Mr. Chipman said.

“What is troubling about this is that the speaker does not have within his budget the money to accommodate a public hearing so he has to get permission from the prime minister in order for us to have the final hearing we previously called for.”

In March, Prime Minister Perry Christie was in disagreement with the public hearing as he said the majority of the Public
Accounts Committee includes members from the opposition.

However, Mr. Chipman said he will continue to push for the public hearing as the Bahamian people need to be informed of the “scandals” at BAMSI.

“We want a public hearing and we want it to be televised so the entire nation including the Family Islands can see what is going on,” he said.

“Everybody is concerned about what happened at BAMSI and this only came up as a result of the January 15 fire on that campus. There has been a lot of talk within the public domain and we need to get to the bottom of it. We must have a public hearing!”

Mr. Chipman’s request followed Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis’ public confession of allowing Paradigm Construction to build a dormitory at BAMSI without possessing an insurance certificate.