Cooper: Govt failed to report on fiscal affairs before election as required by law

The government’s failure to report on the state of its fiscal affairs prior to a general election is in breach of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Deputy Leader Chester Cooper charged yesterday.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act, which was passed in 2018 and considered a priority legislation for the Minnis administration, requires that there is a pre-election economic and fiscal update no earlier than 30 working days and no later than 20 workings before polling day of any general election.

“There are 15 working days left before the polling day, including today. The Minnis administration is yet again in breach of the law,” Cooper said in a statement.

“For the record, the pre-election and fiscal update is required by law to include government revenue and expenditure outturn for the current year; approval of new spending since the annual budget, including contracts and service projects and policies; and the outstanding stock of arrears for all government entities, including showing separately all new unpaid invoices since the stock of arrears was last reported, among many other critical things.

“We call on the Minnis administration to come into compliance with the law and publish the pre-election and fiscal update so the Bahamian people can be clear on how their tax dollars are being spent.”

In response to Cooper, the Ministry of Finance said the Minnis administration was proud to have implemented “this enhanced level of public financial reporting” and that the pre-election and fiscal update would be published online today in keeping with the legal requirements.

“The fiscal council is responsible solely for the preparation and publication of its reports,” the ministry said.

“A cursory review of the Fiscal Responsibility Act will confirm their independence from the political directorate in respect of their duties.

“This administration has set the standard for accountability and transparency in respect of the laws that it has passed that now provide to the country for the first time published quarterly budget reports, published fiscal strategy reports, a brand new financial and procurement legislative regime, and a dedicated budget website (https://ift.tt/3mJllzJ) where Bahamians can at any time review all of the publications and reports and see for themselves how their tax dollars are collected and spent.”

Section 11 of the Act reads that the pre-election update report shall contain, among other things, updated macroeconomic forecasts and assumptions from the fiscal strategy report or mid-year review, whichever is the most recent; updated fiscal information including government revenue outturn and forecasts for the current year and next three years; government expenditure outturn and forecasts for the current year and next three years including for expenditure, primary expenditure and expenditure on wages and related personnel costs; and approval of new spending since the annual budget including major investment and service projects and policies.

The Act also requires that the minister of finance and the financial secretary arrange for a pre-election economic and fiscal update to be published on an official website of the government.

Cooper said the Minnis administration was only operating under the pretense of wanting fiscal transparency.

“Meantime, we still await the report from the Fiscal Responsibility Council and the legally mandated report on vendors who received pandemic funds,” he said.

“This government has broken so many promises to the people, but perhaps none bigger than their promise to be transparent and accountable. Instead, they have routinely violated their own laws to avoid sharing the details of how they are spending the money they have borrowed in the people’s name.”

The auditor general earlier this month revealed that the government did not disclose the beneficial owners of the companies that were disbursed more than $63 million of the $250 million rapid financing instrument (RFI) which was approved by the IMF in June 2020 for COVID-19 relief.

Attorney General Carl Bethel argued that the law did not require the Ministry of Finance to disclose those names but that a simple regulation that could be drafted and passed within 24 hours would permit the ministry to make that information public.

Parliament was dissolved before that resolution was tabled.

A policy recommendation attached to the RFI stated that it would be critical for the government to commission and publish an independent, third-party audit, and publish all contracts as well as beneficial ownership information on companies that receive pandemic-related procurement contracts.

The Ministry of Finance has said that its 2020/2021 fourth quarter snapshot would be released before the end of August.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/cooper-govt-failed-to-report-on-fiscal-affairs-before-election-as-required-by-law/