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THE D’URBAN PARK PROJECT

Dec 11, 2016 Editorial, Features / Columnists

Hopes were high and expectations were far reaching for the government which was elected on a platform of change and anti-corruption. But after a year and a half in office, cracks are emerging to expose several unethical practices by government officials.
The drug bond scandal continues to make the headlines in the news as the Minister of Public Health has been sent to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee for allegedly misleading Parliament about the rental of a pharmaceutical bond from a city businessman.
It is rare that a Speaker would acquiesce to the opposition’s demands to send a Minister of the government to the Privileges Committee, which is a disciplinary body. The Minister was accused of misguiding the National Assembly and the people last August when he justified Government’s sole-sourcing a contract to Linden Holdings Company for a Sussex Street bond to store drugs.
As reported, the bond which was rented by the government for $12.5 million per month was an empty residential building. It was devoid of any facilities required for a fully equipped and certified pharmaceutical bond as claimed by the Minister.
Then there is the D’Urban Park scandal. The government has always stated that it is transparent, yet it refuses to disclose the names of the donors, the amount of money and other resources collected for the project and the amount owed and to whom. It appears that millions of dollars were collected, but there is no stated account of how the money was spent by those who managed the project.
The government should understand that its obligation is to the people and its refusal to come clean with the D’Urban Park project could shrink its credibility and reduce the confidence of the people.
Lest we forget, the government has also refused to disclose the amount of public funds it spent on the inauguration of the President. Amidst accusations of corruption and lack of transparency by the opposition, rather than setting the record straight, some in the government have accused the opposition of wanting to use the information to erode patriotism and the people’s pride and feelings which were garnered during and after the jubilee celebrations.
Rather than affirming themselves as genuine subscribers to the belief of transparency, some in authority have stated that the D’Urban Park multi-million-dollar project was in line with the tenets of good governance and transparency and was above board. This shows that they are not telling the truth.
If it is true that the project is above board, then the government should not hesitate to make a full disclosure of the D’Urban Park project. However, some, including the opposition have alleged that the mere fact that the President has stepped in to quell concerns surrounding the project without disclosing the financial transactions is suspicious, to say the least.
This is rather unfortunate for a president with integrity to attempt to cloud the issue of transparency in relation to the financial transactions of the project. Manyare doubting his explanation about the project andhis glorifying and extolling itsvalue to the nation.
The fact that a private company was secretly established to collect hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of the government to develop a state project is both questionable and troubling. In spite of the accusations made by the opposition, many have claimed that the government’s actions mirror the positions on similar issues taken by the opposition when it was in government. However, the government should conduct an audit into the D’Urban Park project and instruct SARU or SOCU to investigate it?

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