Many of the District Representatives routinely give out bush cutting contracts. During the 2011 elections campaign, the NDP was critical of the programme, but has continued it since taking office. The Auditor General has said in a "general statement" that she had seen contracts issued and bush not cut.

Minister for Education and Culture was reported to be allegedly very active in giving out bush cutting contracts both in December and recently, and his Ministry requested in December that cheques be sent there for distribution according to the Ag. Accountant General.

She further stated that based on the plans audits were conducted to avoid wastage of Government funds.

The Auditor General (AGen) also informed the body that once an audit report was completed, copies were sent to the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Secretary and complimentary copies were sent to the Governor’s Office.

She also informed that the Constitution laid out how the process was to take place to lay the reports on the Table along with the time-frame for it to take place.

The Minister for Health and Social Development Ronnie W. Skelton wanted to know, if any audits were done on any major government projects over the past eight years. The AGen informed Members of the SFC that several audits were conducted and the most recent ones were done of the incinerator project, the Biwater project and an interim audit of the Johnson Ghut project as it was ongoing.

Minister Skelton asked, if the aforementioned audits were conducted via special instructions or were they conducted as part of the general process. To this Mrs. Webster informed that the audits were conducted through general audit process.

The AGen also told the SFC appointed by the House of Assembly (HOA) to examine the draft estimates that her office does not have some of the expertise required to audit the new hospital project.

Territorial At Large Member Archibald C. Christian stated that the hospital project was one of the largest and most expensive projects which government had undertaken and he thought that an audit would have been conducted despite there not being certain expertise within the Audit department.

The freshman Member of the HOA expressed that he would have liked to see that an audit conducted and that the necessary expertise should have been made available to conduct the audit as the public had a right to know how those funds were spent. To this the AGen informed the Committee that a number of audits were conducted on the health services, the hospital services, as well as the hospital annex.

This news site was informed by its sources that during the December 2011 bush cutting exercises that Territorial At Large Member Myron V. Walwyn was allegedly very active along with others in giving out bush cutting contracts in many districts.

This news site was also reliably informed by three persons who took part in the December exercise but spoke to this news site on condition that their names not be used, that when they went to the Treasury and Public Works Departments to enquire about their cheques they were told to go to the Ministry of Education and Culture to collect their cheques.

The Ag. Accountant General confirmed that a request was made by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) to have the cheques sent there for distribution and she ensured that the necessary log book was sent for those collecting to sign for accountability. The Ag. Accountant General told this news site in an interview that it was not unusual as Ministries and Departments do make special requests so that the departments can maintain their own internal controls.

It is unclear why a Ministry that does not usually deal with bush cutting contracts will make such a request and not the Ministry of Communications and Works knowing that the programme is run through the Public Works Department.

However, during the 2012 SFC deliberations before the Auditor General, Minister Walywn had seem to distant himself and sought clarification. He told the committee the he wanted the record to reflect that it was incorrect to say that contracts were issued and bush not cut in the last bush cutting exercise under the present Administration.

The freshman member of the HOA noted that according to his knowledge the Public Works Department had to verify that work was done before payments could be issued. The Auditor General confirmed that was the procedure.

However, the AGen noted that she did not state that she saw payments and bush not cut, but she stated earlier that she “had seen contracts issued and bush not cut”. She informed the Members in responding to a question from Walwyn that she was not necessarily referring to the last exercise under the present Administration but “it was a general statement.”