NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Opposition Leader Michael Pintard has strongly objected to what he labels as a slew of untruths and evasive tactics employed by Prime Minister Philip Davis and Minister of Works Alfred Sears after an incomplete roof collapsed at a High School in the capital.

"First, the Prime Minister and Minister Sears with a straight face told the Bahamian people that the roof collapse that everyone saw was not, in fact, a collapsed roof," Pintard said in a press release yesterday.

"Then, [Davis] suggested that the contractor had an oral contract for a project that would be valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars at a minimum.

"The PLP is now at the point where they will say anything to cover their obvious ineptitude... this is rubbish, plain and simple," he continued.

The incident has ignited an exchange of allegations and demands for transparency on social media.

Davis recently admitted to the press that a contract had yet to be put in writing at the time of the incident, but denied that anything improper took place.

Pintard, however, blasted this type of contract as illegal.

"The Procurement Acts of 2021 and 2023 require that a project of this size be approved by the agency's Tenders Committee or the Public Procurement Board, depending on the contract value," The FNM Leader noted, citing sections 16- 18 of the 2023 Act.

"The Committee and Board would not give consideration to an 'oral' contract proposal, nor would they approve a waiver of the requirement for proper insurance coverage. By law, no procurement contract can be awarded unless the process prescribed by law is followed – anything else is an illegal contract."

The claim by the Prime Minister that the contractor was self-insured was another that Pintard said falls flat.

"[Davis] knows well from the BAMSI debacle that the standing government policy is that all public projects of this type require express insurance coverage... unless the Prime Minister can provide evidence that the contractor has established a separate legal entity appropriately funded to provide insurance for the contractor's business interests, then no self-insurance exists," Pintard contended.

The Opposition Leader further claimed the contractor's registered concerns about the size of the lumber used on the trusses and the pavilion's placement on campus were overruled, though he did not provide evidence.

"How many other illegal contracts are currently in place with nothing more than a handshake and a wink? We demand that the Prime Minister provide evidence that the Tenders Committee did its review and approval," Pintard stated.

"We further demand that the government provide a full accounting of all projects for which there are only "oral contracts" in place and for which there is no appropriate insurance coverage."

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