P.U.P. says intimidation and victimization concerning Auditor General’s Report

The Auditor-General’s Report 2010-2011 was damning. It was full of phrases like disregard for regulations, procedures and accountability; inadequate records management, deficient management and unsatisfactory accounting for government assets. In fact, Auditor-General Dorothy Bradley goes so far as to say she could not form a concrete opinion from the audit because of a lack of information provided. That is about as bad as any audit report gets, and needless to say it hasn’t made Bradley a favorite of the U.D.P. government. Freelance reporter Mike Rudon was at the press conference when the PM was asked about nasty comments made against the Auditor-General in the Guardian Newspaper. Here’s the story.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

Prime Minister Dean Barrow spoke on a wide variety of topics affecting the nation. But although he is the leader of the nation, he is also the head of the United Democratic Party, and he was asked about an article about Auditor-General Dorothy Bradley in his newspaper, the Guardian.

Adele Ramos, Amandala Press

“Sir I’d like to reference an article that was published in the Guardian last week, and it was in respect to the 2010-2011 audit, and references were made to the current Auditor-General Dorothy Bradley. Particularly later on in that article it makes the point that she is to ensure safekeeping of GOB’s assets and in this regard she has failed miserably and has deliberately chosen to feed this nation erroneous information of the worst nature not qualifying the report, and such behavior is rather unforgivable. Now I understand that she was out of the country at the time this article was published, and you were as well, but is this the view of your administration, and…”

Dorothy Bradley

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Adele I am here as the Prime Minister, as the head of the government, not as the head of the U.D.P. and certainly not as anybody having anything to do with the Guardian so I’m really not going to comment on what the newspaper said about any individual, period. I don’t think that’s my place.”

Adele Ramos

“So distance should be placed between what that article is saying and your administration?”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“That’s your formulation and I’m not going to quarrel with you. I said what I said and everybody heard. I won’t take it beyond that.”

Fair enough, but a few minutes after that PM Barrow was asked a question about rumors of contention between Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley and Caribbean Shores Area Representative Santiago ‘Santi’ Castillo. Both apparently want the same U.D.P. seat, and the PM gladly put on his U.D.P. leader hat to speak at length about that issue.

Dean Barrow

Adele Ramos

“Sir since you put on that party hat a little while ago, I’d like to readdress my question to you with regards to the article appearing in the Guardian. Does it reflect the view of your administration?”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“I put on the party hat in a different context though. So with the greatest possible respect Ms. Adele and the largest measure of courtesy that I can summon up, I’m still not prepared to comment on that.”

Mike Rudon for News Five.

According to the Guardian, after scrutinizing the one hundred and seventy-four pages of the report, they found only about four cases of wrongdoing by public officers, but not one whiff of wrongdoing by any U.D.P. politician. A release issued today from the P.U.P. members of the Public Accounts Committee states that those members are concerned with, “the recent pattern of intimidation and possible victimization tactics by the United Democratic Party and the present Government to cease public discussion on the potential misuse of public funds.”