Tag Archives: Anthony Wiltshire

A PAC Affair @Transport Board

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For anyone searching for comic relief during the stressful times we have to endure these days, especially with COVID 19 about, tune in to Public Account Committee (PAC) Hearings. Recordings are available online on Facebook, YouTube, Barbados Parliament websites- you have no excuse to not avail yourself of this stress buster.

The PAC under the chairmanship of Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley is currently probing what appears to onlookers to be GROSS mismanagement and malfeasance at the Transport Board covered in the Auditor General Special Audit Report for 2017-2018 period.

Public Accounts Committee Session – 7 September 2020

A couple questions after watching some of the hearing,

  1. Under what circumstances should former chairman of the Transport Board (TB) Anthony Wiltshire have been allowed to use his personal credit card to purchase bus parts? If the line of credit of the Board was cancelled, the ministry of finance should have intervened to implement a better arrangement.
  2. It is obvious the Board under Wiltshire reneged on its responsibility to hold the Board of Management accountable for several foul ups, bleeps and blunders revealed during the PAC sessions so far.
  3. The pace at which the PAC is scheduling meetings, it is unlikely a final report will be available in the near future. It leaves a suspicious mind to believe completion of PAC reports are timed to gain political advantage. In this case a general election has appeared in the rear view mirror. Former General Manager (GM) Sandra Forde indicated she was prepared to answer all questions at the last sitting, her offer was declined because the chairman was committed to a hard stop at 5.15PM.
  4. The CEO of the TB Fabian Wharton seems to be an improved version of former GM Sandra Forde but the blogmaster is always worried when a CEO cannot speak fluently about P&L matters.

All Barbadians should be concerned about the lack of professionalism practised at the TB exposed in the ongoing PAC meetings and Auditor General reprot. The TB is a statutory board responsible for soaking up millions in subsidies under BLP and DLP governments, borrowed NIS funds and padded the workforce with yardfowls at taxpayers expense. The blogmaster is hopeful financial controller Felicia Sue will not be the fall girl for what has transpired.

The comedy fest will continue in about two weeks.