PS: I don’t break financial rules

The Ministry of Housing’s Permanent Secretary has insisted to Parliament that he has not broken any financial rules, and Housing Minister Dr William Duguid has never encouraged him to do so.

Timothy Maynard gave the assurance in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, the second day of hearings on Government’s Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the 2021-2022 financial year.

Maynard, an attorney-at-law and former newspaper journalist, found himself on the receiving end of probing questions from Duguid’s predecessor, St Andrew MP George Payne, who now occupies the backbench.

Payne, while praising the ministry’s technocrats, wanted to know about the planned restructuring of the National Housing Corporation (NHC), the public/private sector project known as HOPE, and questioned the transparency on the awarding of construction contracts.

Payne told the House he was merely seeking to protect Duguid from facing the same public scrutiny that the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) placed on the last Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration on the matter of transparency.

Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley also joined Payne in questioning some National Housing Corporation (NHC) contracts including any arrangements with prefabricated concrete maker Preconco, run by Mark Maloney.

Duguid asked his Permanent Secretary to respond to some of queries from Payne and Atherley, to which Maynard made it clear that he operated above board and followed the financial rules.

“I can assure the House that I intend to follow the financial rules very closely,” Maynard said as he offered details on the selection of 18 companies to work with the Ministry on projects over the next year. He said the companies were required to have access to financing.

The top-ranking civil servant told the chamber that the 18 companies that responded to the tender notice were then evaluated by a committee headed by officials of the Ministry of Finance and National Housing Corporation. This list was eventually submitted to Cabinet for consideration, he said.

“I know that all of the 18 companies were approved for submission of joint venture arrangements. Those companies included Preconco,” Maynard disclosed.

He added: “I am not an economist or accountant, but I am persuaded that we need those projects going and we need [them to] go quickly in the interest of the economy, and in the interest of putting people to work . . . But it will be done, if I am at the ministry, in accordance with the Financial Rules.

“I don’t think I have ever broken a single financial rule; I don’t think I will do so in the future. Preconco was approved in accordance with the same Rule 2.39. As a matter of interest, there are several projects in the pipeline. . . where in the interest of speed and in the interest of survival of the country, we have to move quickly and so Rule 2.39 will be sought for the Cabinet to approve matters via that process.” (IMC)