CLUCK! CLUCK! CLUCK! WHEY DE FOWLS?
WHERE ARE THE CHICKENS?  LAST COCK TO CROW?
By Reynold C. Benjamin
Political leader of The Grenada United Labour Party

Fellow Grenadians, could this have happened in Barbados? I bet it would not. Ask yourself, then, why has it happened here, in Grenada? Is it, according to Prime Minister Mitchell, because we don’t have a David Thompson? Or, is it because we have Keith Claudius Mitchell?

Fellow Grenadians, do you recall that I was the first cock to crow on the matter of this ghost chicken farm at Bocage, in Victoria? It was in August, 2005, that I addressed the Prime Minister of Grenada, the Honourable Dr. Keith Claudius Mitchell, in the newspaper on what I considered a matter of utmost public importance concerning the waste of taxpayers’ money.
 
Now the latest cock to crow, so far, is the Director of Audit of Grenada in his Special Audit Report, dated November 2006, on Grenada Broilers Inc., the company established by the NNP administration to develop, improve and extend local poultry production. The Director of Audit’s report was laid before the House of Representatives on 22nd February, 2008.

In April 2003, the NNP government announced the establishment of Grenada Broilers Incorporated (GBI) “to produce, process and efficiently market quality chicken products that enhance the nutritional health and well-being of the nation in a cost efficient manner”.

In November 2003, just before general elections, NNP made a lot of loud noises, cut down plenty cocoa and banana trees, tractored land and dug up the place to impress the electorate. On the 25th February, 2004, Minister Gregory Bowen informed the nation that a Board of Directors comprising Richardson Andrews, Patrick Antoine, Dr. Bowen Louison, Dorette Fletcher, Stan Phillip, Thaddeus Curtis Baptiste and Fitzroy James was appointed.

The Minister prated that “a hatchery, a fully automated processing plant with the capacity to process 2,000 broilers per hour and broiler houses to accommodate 1.8 million birds per year, as well as feed storage, packaging and distribution facilities” were being built.

In an article titled “Cluck! Cluck!”, I pointed out to the Prime Minister that nothing had taken place between November 2003 and August 2005. I informed him that I had visited Bocage and not even “ah good old yard fowl is to be seen in the place”. I complained that he had given no explanation to the nation on the absence of progress with the project. I reminded him of some of the things that had happened with Grenada Broilers Inc. since the appointment of the Board of Directors which had not been made public e.g. the loan of US$6.9 million (EC$18.63 million) from Royal Bank of Trinidad & Tobago (RBTT) which was granted for the project.

I asked about the employment of one Kenneth Bailey as Operations Manager at a monthly salary of EC$8120.00. “Oh! What a fowl smell”, I observed.

My enquiries had disclosed that this man, Kenneth Bailey, was brought in from Jamaica, all expenses paid.  He was given housing, traveling allowance, the lot. That was in 2003. He had been hanging around, since then, being paid for doing nothing “as though he was an orphan that the people of Grenada had adopted’.  No answer came out of the Prime Minister, so I continued to crow;

“It calls, also, for an explanation in a country where we have responsible government elected by the people. Keith Claudius Mitchell cannot refuse to answer, keep quiet and send his highly paid minions, not elected by the people, to obfuscate the issue by pretending that something is being done.  So there has been no answer to the question with respect to Kenneth Bailey being paid for over two years to do nothing.”

So now, the Director of Audit’s Special Report on the ghost farm, which was unconstitutionally stifled by the Minister for Finance for over a year, discloses the true story of this government’s callous disregard for accountability in the conduct of the nation’s affairs.  Let the Director of Audit crow!

In paragraph 5.3.0, on page 8 of the Report he states, “The Company paid a total of four hundred and fifty three thousand eight hundred and eighty one dollars and eighty one cents ($453,881.81) as employment cost for a financial Controller and an Operations Manager. However, there were no production operations or place of business up to the time of the audit”.  In other words, there was nothing to show for that money not even an office.

In paragraph 5.3.1, he states, “Two hundred and fifty four thousand four hundred and eighty five dollars and thirty one cents ($254,485.31) was paid over a sixteen month period to the Operations Manager re emoluments, traveling, relocation and termination of contract. However, I did not see any report detailing the activities of the Operations Manager during this period”.  In other words, the Director saw no evidence that the man did any work for the money he received.

In paragraph 5.3.2, he states, “One hundred and ninety nine thousand three hundred and ninety six dollars and fifty cents ($199,396.50) was paid to the Financial Controller over a three year period. Seventy four thousand ($74,000.00) of which, was for a retroactive payment for a period when the company had no working capital. However there were no proper documented financial systems or financial reports. In addition, vouchers were not numbered, a cash book was not maintained and bank reconciliation statements were not prepared.”

Again, he had no evidence of work having been done for the payment received as he says in paragraph 5.5.0, “I am therefore of the view that the board did not have adequate systems in place to monitor the activities of the Company’s senior employees and that the company did not receive value for money from the employment of these two officers.”

The Director of Audit is a creature of the Grenada Constitution. The holder of that office is not just another institutional cock crowing in the wilderness of our collective political ignorance. He/she is a very important official in the framework of the constitution and of good governance not only in our Constitution but in the Constitutions of every other sister nation in the Caribbean.

For example, in the Trinidad and Tobago Express, March 31, 2008, it was reported:  “President George Maxwell Richards has issued a call for the Auditor General’s Department to be vigilant in guarding the nation’s Treasury and demand accountability with respect to protecting the public purse”.

“When we observe the developing of newly emerging countries…it is evident that without the necessary checks and balances, room is created for chaos in many spheres, sometimes leading to anarchy,” said Richards.

“He added that the framers of the Constitution ensured that the Office of the Auditor General was an independent body to ensure transparency and accountability in public spending.  It is critical that in the exercise of its functions that the Auditor General not be under the control or direction of any other person or authority,” said Richards.

These expressions by President Richards of Trinidad and Tobago in respect of the Auditor General under the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago apply with equal force to our own Director of Audit under our Constitution.
In our own Constitution, the functions, powers and protection of the Office of Director of Audit are to be found in Sections 82 (1) to (6) & 87 (6) & (7). Read what Lord Mance had to say about those provisions and the Director of Audit in Privy Council Appeal # 14 of 2005: Julia Lawrence V. The Attorney General of Grenada. Judgment delivered 26 March, 2007. The italics are mine.

“These provisions (Sections 86 (6) & (7) and Sections 87 (6) and (7)) are intended to buttress the independence of these officers (the Director of Public Prosecution and Director of Audit) and their ability to perform their vital roles without fear or favour. In the particular case of the Director of Audit, her (Julia Lawrence) role is likely to bring her (Julia Lawrence) into direct conflict with government - and especially with ministers (Keith Mitchell) of the governing party (NNP) responsible for accounting for the financial stewardship of the nation during any period on which she is reporting (1993 & 1994).”

What is the vital role of the Director of Audit which must be performed “without fear or favour” as stated by Lord Mance? As stated by President Richards, it is “to ensure transparency and accountability in public spending”. Is anybody in Grenada interested in that? Or, will the Director of Audit be the last cock to crow?

I don’t believe so! For with or without a David Thompson the people of Grenada shall crow, collectively, at the polls and within the next twelve months a new dawn will break on Grenada.

Fellow Grenadians, next week you will read of the $815,070.00 thrown away as the deposit on equipment and housing for the birds and the $585,072.19 for legal fees without a feather to show for it.

Heavenly Father! Send a David Thompson!