And while the scandal at City Hall took the headline, the purpose of
this afternoon’s press conference was for Prime Minister Dean Barrow to
announce the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the allegations
of corruption at the KHMH. Barrow says that the mere allegations from the hospital’s
former Finance Director Cecil Knowles was enough to prompt the need for independent
investigators.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“I am going to appoint a commission of inquiry to get to the bottom
of these allegations. I make no pronouncement on the merit or otherwise of what
Mr. Knowles has said. Nobody must take me as accepting that there is validity
in the charge that he has made. But the fact is he has made a charge.
He has merely heaped wood on the fire. There was a fire blazing in any
case because there had been these allegations that there was corruption in the
purchase of pharmaceuticals and in particular allegations of corruption regarding
the purchase of pharmaceuticals from De La Fuente in Orange Walk. That is very
much a live issue and I am saying that based on the preliminary audit, I am
convinced that to put it mildly, a great deal of explanation would be needed
to justify some of the purchases at the prices at which they took place from
De La Fuente Pharmacy. That is why I called on the board to do something about
what I saw in the absence of a satisfactory explanation. I am saying the board
may well have been preparing to do something, I don’t know. The fact is
that its now going to be taken out of their hands and given over to a commission
of inquiry so that you and I and everyone can be satisfied at the end of the
day that if as seems to be the case there was corruption, the light would be
shone on it, it would be fully disclosed to the public, and whoever is guilty
of it will be punished.”
It will be a three person Commission of Inquiry chaired by a member
of the judiciary who will be recommended by the Chief Justice. The Trade Union
Congress will get to nominate a member and so will the Ministry of Health. It
will be a public commission of inquiry. And while they wait for the Commission
of Inquiry, both sides will return to the mediation table on Monday. Labour
Commissioner Ivan Williams told us today that he will be the mediator. Prime
Minister Barrow who visited the KHMH just prior to the press conference –
says he met with the doctors and the board and both have agreed to attempt another
round of mediation.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“And in the meantime we should move ahead with respect to urgent immediate
remedial action. That can only happen if the doctors and the board will agree
in the context of the mediation process that continues on Monday. The meeting
that I had with the doctors, I thought was very productive. I will not suggest
that they gave me any undertaking but I certainly came away with the impression
that both processes would be allowed to work; the commission of inquiry process
and the mediation process and that in the meantime there would be no action
that would result in any interruption of services at the KHMH. Now I stress
that I was not given an undertaking to this effect but it is my impression that
that is how the doctors are prepared to move.
That arbitration tribunal, that process of arbitration will again be dealing
with the structures, perhaps more generally terms and conditions of service
and I am saying the issues there can be addressed separately without waiting
on the determination of wrongdoing with respect to the purchasing of pharmaceuticals
and the allegations of corruption made in that context.”
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