Burt admits knowing about OBA no-show
David Burt, the Shadow Minister of Finance, has admitted he knew in advance that Government members of the Public Accounts Committee could not attend its last meeting, as all had sent their apologies to him beforehand.
Committee chairman Mr Burt told the media at the April 14 meeting that it was being called off because One Bermuda Alliance MPs Cole Simons, Susan Jackson, Glen Smith and Jeff Sousa had failed to show up.
He said Mr Smith and Mr Sousa advised him that they would not be attending but “there was no such indication” from Mr Simons and Ms Jackson that they would not be at the session, when the $250 million airport redevelopment deal was due to be discussed.
“For whatever reason, the members that had indicated they were going to be here are not present at this time,” Mr Burt said.
Yesterday, after The Royal Gazette asked him if Mr Simons and Ms Jackson had sent apologies in advance, Mr Burt confirmed they had.
He agreed that he was aware on April 13 that they would not be able to attend and that there would not be enough members present to reach a quorum, as required by the standing orders of the House of Assembly; he added that he had told ZBM and Bernews that he knew all four members would not be attending due to other commitments.
The acting Opposition leader told this newspaper yesterday: “I was informed the day prior, after press notices were sent and the meeting was confirmed, that the two OBA members who had given every indication that they would attend — even going so far as to say they wanted to meet in private session ahead of the public session — would not be present.”
Explaining why he chose to hold the meeting and invite the media to attend, knowing it could not take place, Mr Burt said: “The meeting was not cancelled, as parliamentary business should be a priority and that would set a bad precedent.
“Transparency is important to me and the PAC under my chairmanship has held numerous public meetings shedding light on critical matters.”
Ms Jackson, who shared with this newspaper a copy of the e-mail she sent the chairman at 9.42am on April 13, said: “I’m very concerned that it’s getting political.”
In her e-mail to Mr Burt, she wrote: “Please accept my apologies for not attending tomorrow’s PAC public hearing. The World Bank and the CPA [Commonwealth Parliamentary Association] have just finalised travel for me to meet with officials to discuss PAC priority issues.
“There are a number of work-related mandatory commitments I must fulfil before end-of-week travel.”
She said yesterday: “In my particular case, I had Government business that’s designed to strengthen the Public Accounts Committee. I can’t think of a better apology [for not attending]. If he wants to make it seem as if I’m doing something untoward, I’m upset about it.
“I’m trying to do the best that I can to bring credibility to the committees that I serve on.”
Mr Simons shared an e-mail he sent to Mr Burt and the other committee members at 3.15pm on April 13.
It read: “Good afternoon team. This is a short note to let you know that I will not be available to join you at the PAC meeting tomorrow. I had all intentions of attending but, unexpectedly, a client will be on the island tomorrow and they want to meet with me ... Again, I do apologise for this short notice.”
Mr Simons told this newspaper he “absolutely” would have gone to the PAC meeting if it were not for his work commitment.
Mr Burt had sent a summons to government financial secretary Anthony Manders to attend the April 14 PAC session with a copy of the airport agreement — a document which Bob Richards, the Minister of Finance, has so far refused to release to the public in full.
On April 14, Mr Burt delayed the start of the PAC meeting for 15 minutes before calling it off because of the OBA’s non-attendance.
Mr Richards said afterwards that the summons for Mr Manders was not legally valid and the issue of the summons played a part in the non-attendance of the OBA members.
“Some members had business elsewhere,” Mr Richards said. “There was no point in having that meeting and they had other things they had to do. It was a combination of factors but certainly the fact that the summons was not valid was one reason.”
Mr Burt said yesterday that at a private meeting of the PAC on April 7, Mr Smith and Mr Sousa gave their advance apologies for April 14 and Ms Jackson and Mr Simons confirmed they would attend.
He insisted he was talking solely about the April 7 meeting when he said the latter two MPs gave “no such indication” of their intended absence.
“If on April 7 it was made clear to me that there would not be a quorum on the 14th, the meeting would have been scheduled for a day that we had a quorum,” he said. “However, as I stated on April 14 to the public and the media, that was not the case ...
“I stand by my statement made that day, especially in light of the fact that members were planning on attending as they asked for a private session before the public session. The public can be the judge.
“As was revealed the day after, my reasoning was correct as the Minister of Finance indicated that the non-attendance may have been due to a political nature and that is wholly unacceptable when dealing with the Public Accounts Committee. Again, the public can come to their own conclusions.”
As revealed by this newspaper last week, Ms Jackson told Mr Burt in an e-mail on April 8 she was offended and “taken aback” by his actions in issuing the summons to Mr Manders.
She said she planned to table a motion for the summons to be withdrawn but Mr Burt said he had the power to issue it and her motion would be ruled “out of order”.
Ms Jackson said yesterday she would not table the motion, knowing it would fail, but would like the committee to “clear the air” and agree on how it should conduct its role in scrutinising the public purse.
The PAC will meet today at 2.30pm in the Senate Chamber at the Cabinet Building on Front Street.
Yesterday, Mr Burt said that Mr Manders has informed the committee that due to travel he would be unable to attend the meeting today, and had confirmed his attendance for next Thursday.
April 5: Public Accounts Committee chairman David Burt issues a summons under the Parliament Act 1957 requiring financial secretary Anthony Manders to produce the airport development agreement, with accompanying schedules, at the next PAC public hearing on April 14.
April 7: A private meeting of the PAC takes place. Mr Burt informs members about the summons. Two government MPs, Jeff Sousa and Glen Smith, give advance apologies for April 14. The other committee members — OBA MPs Susan Jackson and Cole Simons and PLP members Lovitta Foggo and Wayne Furbert — confirm they will be in attendance.
April 8: Ms Jackson e-mails Mr Burt to say she is offended and “taken aback” by his actions in issuing the summons without discussing first with the committee. She asks for a private session before the public hearing on April 14 to table a motion for the summons to be withdrawn.
April 12: At 5.58pm, a press notice regarding the April 14 meeting is issued. Later that evening, Mr Burt confirms in an e-mail to the committee that the PAC will meet in public session on April 14. He tells Ms Jackson her motion will be ruled “out of order”.
April 13: At 9.42am, Ms Jackson sends her apologies in an e-mail to Mr Burt regarding the April 14 meeting. She says she has to travel overseas to discuss “PAC priority issues”. At 3.15pm, Mr Simons sends his apologies in an e-mail to Mr Burt. He cites an unexpected professional commitment.
April 14: The PAC meeting is due to start at 2.30pm at the Senate chambers. None of the OBA members are in attendance so the required quorum of four members cannot be reached. Mr Burt delays the start of the meeting until 2.45pm. He then calls off the meeting, telling the media: “There are two members, MP Glen Smith and MP Jeff Sousa, who had indicated at our meeting last week that they would not be able to attend this week’s meeting. However, there was no such indication from the other two members and there was actually discussion that they wanted to meet in private session today to look to rescind summons which should have been issued ... for whatever reason, the members who had indicated that they were going to be here, are not here at this time.”
He later tells ZMB in a televised interview: “All of the OBA members were not in attendance. Two of them last week had indicated they would not be able to make it as they had prior commitments and yesterday, after the other members had indicated that they would be in attendance, yesterday, it was said they would not be able to make it due to other commitments. Unfortunately, we did not have a quorum.” He added: “I don’t want to make this any more political than it has already become.”
