Premier still dodging HOA questions, Penn says

Opposition Leader Marlon Penn has accused Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley of continuing to avoid questions in the House of Assembly about the government’s management of a $100 million loan.

Penn said legislators have sought details about the amount spent, the projects financed and the value received from the loan, but have not received answers.

“First of all, you have to account for what you’ve borrowed. You’ve yet to account to the public for the $100 million that you’ve borrowed. You’ve yet to show us in terms of how you’ve spent it,” Penn said during the Talking Points radio programme.

He said the government had also failed to disclose how much of the loan had been committed to projects.

“Have we gotten value on the monies that you’ve spent already? How much of it have you spent? What are the projects that have been committed on this money? We don’t know,” Penn stated.

The Opposition Leader said members submitted the questions in the House, but the Premier again placed the question-and-answer segment at the end of the order paper.

“As you’ve seen, the Premier has continued to dodge answering these questions in the House of Assembly. He once again deferred the question and answer segment of the House of Assembly to the last on the order paper,” Penn stated.

The latest complaint follows a similar dispute in July, when Premier Wheatley successfully moved to rearrange the order of business so debate on amendments to the Recovery and Development Agency Act could take place before questions.

Penn opposed the change and later introduced a motion seeking to have the House follow the established order of business, except in exceptional circumstances. Speaker Corine George-Massicote ruled that motion out of order after determining that the House had already decided the matter during the sitting.

Penn said during the radio interview that the Premier had reportedly considered further borrowing, but argued that the government must first account for the existing loan.

He also referred to questions previously submitted about how public funds are placed in investments and deposits.

“We’ve asked questions in the House of Assembly to ascertain where the public funds [have gone], where have they been invested, where have they been deposited. And we’re still waiting to have those questions answered in the House of Assembly,” Penn said.

Asked whether he was satisfied with the government’s accountability, Penn said the absence of responses remained the central problem.

“We haven’t gotten answers. The challenge is that we haven’t gotten any answers,” Penn stated.