During the most recent sitting of the House of Assembly, members debated the contents of the Report on the Examination of the House of Assembly’s Covid-19 Assistance Grants, which was laid in the house by Premier Dr the Honourable Natalio Wheatley.
The debate was notably dominated by members of the house who were named within the document, many accused of breaching the terms which guided the distribution of the relevant funds.
As previously reported, several of the members criticized the report for “lacking context”, and argued that the manner in which the information was presented in the report spoke to the prejudice that politicians are corrupt or stealing from the public purse.
Today, we explore their explanations for the spending documented in the report.
Honourable Melvin Mitch Turnbull – Representative for the 2nd District
In the order in which they rose to address the house, we begin with the Representative for the 2nd District Honourable Melvin Mitch Turnbull.
He first addressed Table 8 of the document which spoke to the granting of assistance to self and relatives.
According to the report, guideline 6 for the distribution of the grants “prohibited representatives from issuing grants to any member of his or her immediate family”.
As displayed in the Table, however, the audit found instances where representatives, including Honourable Turnbull, awarded grants to the spouses and immediate family of other HOA Members. In his case, the sister of Honourable Sharie DeCastro, who also happens to be Turnbull’s cousin.
Turnbull went on to address two instances in which he was named to have issued multiple grants to a single individual and exceeded the $5000 cap which guided the disbursements.
One incident, he explained, surrounded food distribution efforts in the Second District in the heat of the pandemic.
He explained that the additional $4000 paid to the individual was to assist in fixing the boat because it was damaged in a collision on their final trip from Jost Van Dyke. Turnbull stressed that the documentation to support such was provided as necessary.
In the second instance, he explained that this too was in support of community efforts during the pandemic.
The second payment, he said, was made for the use of a truck for a clean-up initiative which targeted senior residents in the Second District.
Honourable Julian Fraser – Representative for the 3rd District
Representative for the Third District, Honourable Julian Fraser was next to take the mic.
In addition to providing context for what was reported as a $10,000 grant, Fraser challenged the audit’s methodology by stating that while the grant was approved, it was never used.
Fraser went on to note that all the grants had to go through an approval process that members had little influence on.
Honourable Kye Rymer – Representative for the 5th District
Honourable Kye Rymer, Representative for the Fifth District, rose briefly to explain the circumstances surrounding what the report named as a total payment of $6700 to a single individual.
Honourable Vincent Wheatley – Representative for the 9th District
Representative for the Ninth Honourable Vincent Wheatley was next.
Item 57 of the report highlighted a bush-cutting grant valued at $9,856 awarded in his district. The report noted that while the objective of the project was reported to the Financial Secretary for approval as “to employ some young people as well as stimulate the people of the 9th District financially”, there was no record of how many persons would be engaged in the initiative. Additionally, all of the money was paid to a single individual.
Wheatley began by addressing this area of the report.
Wheatley went on to speak on the issue of third party payments.
It was encouraged that in instances where persons sought assistance for payment of rent and bills, for example, that these payments be made directly to their creditor, such as landlord and utility companies, on their behalf.
Several members, including Wheatley, were reported to have made the majority of their payments directly to individuals seeking assistance, rather than the aforementioned route.
He explained why, in his experience, this was necessary.