Accusations of the nature and magnitude of those leveled by former Minister of Works Neko Grant last week are often dismissed as exaggerated or even far-fetched. Under the circumstances, however, taxpayers cannot simply disregard his suggestion that a portion of the $100 million BAMSI project in Andros, severely damaged by fire in February, had never been insured.

According to the contractor, Audley Hanna, president of Paradigm Construction, at the time of the fire he believed that the damaged building, a male dormitory, had been insured. Hanna said he only started to make inquiries after he heard Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works Philip Davis assert that coverage was lacking.

If it turns out that the building was in fact uninsured, Hanna said, he would have to find the money to rebuild it. Asked if he had the funds to do so, he said, "I don't know, but I have excess."

This answer is no reassurance to a public already forced to watch as costs for the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute ballooned from an initial $20 million estimate to $100 million without adequate explanation. If indeed the building was uninsured - we have no reason to question the minister with responsibility for the project - and Paradigm Construction's funds happen to fall short, the treasury cannot be expected to foot the bill in these difficult economic times. Not when the public has already been saddled with value-added tax (VAT) in response to chronic revenue shortfalls and decades of excessive government spending.

Hanna's explanation that the insurance may have lapsed without his knowledge, because of construction delays that were out of his hands, is quite simply not good enough, as Grant rightly pointed out. He noted that the Ministry of Works' project manager should have been on top of the issue, and said the opposition believes the project was never insured in the first place.

The deputy prime minister did lend his support to the contractor's version of events up to a point, saying Hanna had "everything that was required to contract work with the ministry, including contractor's all-risk insurance. However, because of the delay and the fact that the contractor failed to pay the annual premium, the insurance coverage expired". Many questions remain, however.

Hanna told The Nassau Guardian the building was insured with Southern Alliance, but a search of the Insurance Commission of The Bahamas' website turned up no such company. A senior insurance broker in the country also told The Guardian that she had never heard of Southern Alliance. There may be a perfectly good explanation for what took place. Thus far, the public has not heard it.

FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis has quite rightly asked the government to table the contract for the male dorm and the insurance documents. The opposition must not let this matter rest. With so much public money at stake, the people have a right to know exactly what happened.

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