Three weeks after it was supposed to be publicised, certain information described in a May 11 House of Assembly sitting remains hidden from public eyes.
On that day, Education and Culture Minister Myron Walwyn referenced supplemental information in response to questions from Opposition Leader Andrew Fahie.
Mr. Walwyn (R-at large) promised to provide the House with plans and quotations submitted by each of the three companies that shortlist-tendered for the contracts to provide the steel frame structures for the new Elmore Stoutt High School classroom buildings.
The Beacon has yet to receive any of these documents despite multiple inquiries.
HOA Information Officer Linton Leonard said he requested copies of that information and sent the Beacon everything his office had received, and neither Mr. Walwyn nor ministry officials could be reached for comment.
Mr. Fahie (R-D1) told the Beacon on Monday that he had not received the documents either.
Long wait
Additionally, there was a long wait to receive other information. During the May 11 sitting, Communications and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool (R-D4) promised to provide spreadsheets breaking down financial aspects of the cruise pier expansion, including the project’s land and marine phase contracts, as well as the outstanding sums on any of the project’s contracts.
After multiple requests, the Beacon received the spreadsheets on Tuesday afternoon, 20 days after they were mentioned in the House.
A history of issues
Struggles to obtain public information submitted non-verbally during HOA question-and-answer sessions is a familiar problem.
Over three sittings spanning February and March 2015, opposition members requested hundreds of pages of documents detailing dozens of contracts, purchase orders, and other financial activities of the National Democratic Party administration.
Those requests came shortly before the June 2015 snap elections.
HOA officials initially claimed such documents were not public, because they had not been tabled or read aloud during the sitting. However, Speaker of the House Ingrid Moses-Scatliffe said in September of that year that the information ministers provide to the opposition is public, and it would be treated as such.
“Whatever information that would have been given out then is public information,” she said at the time, referring to HOA question-and-answer sessions. “It won’t happen again.”
Despite repeated requests, however, HOA officials never provided all of the documents submitted non-verbally in the February and March 2015 sittings, though information from subsequent question-and-answer sessions had been provided until last month.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE JUNE 1, 2017 EDITION.
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