NASSAU, Bahamas — Following revelations by Minister of Labour and Immigration Keith Bell that the Minnis administration spent more than $500,000 to furnish the apartment of a Bahamian ambassador in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield on Wednesday called for an investigation and added that, if true, it is an “indefensible abuse of public funds,” The Nassau Guardian reported on Wednesday, June 15.
Henfield said he was not aware of the spending and “was shocked as anybody else about the revelations”.
“It’s indefensible that we would spend that amount of money to furnish any mission that we have anywhere in the world,” he told The Nassau Guardian.
“It speaks to…a systemic crack in the system which allows such indefensible abuse of public funds.
“It must be investigated so that we can find out how to fix it and prevent it from happening again in the future. I had no knowledge of it. To the best of my understanding the ministry had no knowledge of it.”
Speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday night, Bell said $12,000 was spent on a bed, $19,000 was spent on a rug and $14,000 was spent on a mirror.
Additionally, he said $14,300 was spent on a table, $9,000 on a dining room table, over $20,000 on dining table chairs, $9,000 on a cocktail table, $14,500 on a sofa and more than $5,000 on two lamps.
Bell said while the apartment was being renovated, the ambassador stayed in a hotel at a cost of $20,000 per month.
When asked if the spending was necessary, Henfield said, “It’s an indefensible abuse of public funds, if in fact it happened in the way that it is being reported.” See story in The Nassau Guardian at https://thenassauguardian.com/former-minister-calls-for-investigation-into-fnm-govts-lavish-spending/
