Management practices under scrutiny

Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Trade Sandra Husbands is pointing an accusing finger at the former Board of Directors at the Transport Board for the company’s financial woes and irregularities between the period of 2015 to 2017.

She suggested that the board did not try hard enough to save the cash-strapped state corporation from spending unnecessarily and charged that the special bus rehabilitation project had “failed miserably”.

However, former Chairman of the Transport Board Anthony Wiltshire stuck to his position that not having adequate financing had hindered the “smooth running” of the board and that it was better using a “line of credit” with local suppliers since the cash was needed up front when making purchases overseas.

The two were speaking in Parliament on Monday when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) resumed its hearing into the operations of the Transport Board, based on the latest Auditor General’s special report.

Husbands said that the board and management failed to take the necessary decisions to address the deficit, while questioning the rationale of sticking with local suppliers for some parts when they could be sourced overseas for up to ten times less in some cases.

“I think that the continuance of using the local suppliers at those exorbitant prices is what has led to the failure of the transport board to really turn its situation around and I feel that you need to provide the public of Barbados with a full, open explanation why, in the face of these types of figures, you could still find it appropriate to continue on the road that you all were on despite having that project with Mr [David] Bartholomew,” said Husbands.

“It appears to me that good decision-making was not happening in relation to the care for government resources and the provision of a good transport service for the Barbadian public,” she said.

However, Wiltshire, who has been in the committee’s hot seat for several weeks, said Husband’s comments were subjective. “What sense it makes going to government when the government is telling you they don’t have any money?” he queried.

However, in a short back and forth, Husbands said given that the money to the local suppliers had to be paid at some point she did not see the reason “a transition” was not made to import the items at a much lower price from the two overseas suppliers in order to create a viable service to get buses on the road.

At this point, Wiltshire said that was an issue for the financial controller and not him.

Husbands responded: “I want to put it to you that as the chairman of the board, the responsibility of the board is to ensure that there is proper running and proper functioning because the financial controller and the general manager, they all report to the board and the board’s responsibility is when things are not functioning as well as they should, that that would need to be dealt with and brought to the attention of the management.”

The former chairman however said there were a lot of promises [from government] which would be followed a long time after by “a little sip” which the board would have to make work.

“Then you have to make do with what you have. That is what I am saying. You cannot get blood out of stone.”

He explained that the Transport Board had racked up millions of dollars in debt to the point where one of its suppliers had cut the line of credit. He believed the financial controller was the best person to respond to Husband’s queries.

Still, Husbands continued: “I don’t think the Barbadian public was very well served by these decisions that were taken . . . I am not really satisfied with your answers.”

Wiltshire was later questioned by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, who again broached the subject of numerous trips taken by Wiltshire to Miami during the period 2016 and 2017 for which he submitted invoices.

Highlighting four of those trips, Walcott pointed to thousands of dollars which he said Wiltshire reportedly spent to purchase parts and equipment for the Transport Board.

He questioned why Wiltshire felt the need to travel and make the purchases as opposed to shopping online.

“The board in its strained financial situation having to pay airfares, accommodation, per diem, rental cars all of these things, just to get these pieces of equipment which could have been easily purchased online and shipped to the Transport Board?” said Walcott.

However, Wiltshire defended the decision to travel and use his personal credit card to buy parts for the cash-strapped entity, suggesting that he was looking out for the company. The board, he said, did not have the cash on hand to pay for the products up front. He said the Transport Board’s credit card came around December 2016.

While the card had a limit of $10,000, only two people were approved to use it, each with a limit of $2,500, former general manager Sandra Forde later told the PAC. (MM)