It is a pity we don’t have Judith the warrior Biblical figure who is responsible fir the phrase “He lost his head to a woman”.

It would appear many men (the subject of this Editorial and one of our Front Page stories today) are the Holofornes in the Bible story that suffered the fate of losing his head and deservedly so.

If Judith were alive today she would berate all the men that allowed the shocking, shameful, and criminal waste of public money that the Auditor General, Alastair Swarbrick has highlighted in his May 2015 Report “Major Capital Projects: Construction of Schools”.

The Government Press Release’s title “Poor management of construction projects significantly increased the Government’s costs” totally hides the history of incompetence, negligence, irresponsibility, and total disregard of the public purse by the actions of government ministers, civil servants, and so called professionals in the construction of three high schools – none of which have been completed. Yes, one of them, Clifton Hunter High School is occupied but has still to this day not obtained a Satisfactory Completion Certificate.

The large majority of this damning report has been published on our Front Page under the title “Auditor General’s Report released on Cayman Islands’ schools construction projects”.

I am a former and retired Quantity Surveyor/Project Manager and I am horrified at the findings of the Auditor General. That this disgrace was allowed to continue under two governments is incredible.

When former premier McKeeva Bush’s government took over they inherited the PPM’s three schools and took great pains for years to tell us how incompetent that government was. They should have taken note of the quote: “Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” or more aptly through the rhetoric – “BOULDERS”.

“The Ministry of Education was responsible for both projects. The high schools project resulted in the completion of only one of the three high schools originally planned, another two high schools being started but not completed, took over nine years, and cost $172.7 million, or almost double the initial planned costs. During this same period, the project’s design concept went from conventional, single­ building high schools to a campus-style approach that included hurricane protection capacity and other facilities for community use.

“The primary schools project was completed over a three-year period. While the costs at $13.4 million were 34 percent higher than planned, the project delivered only four of the five classroom buildings originally planned.

“The Ministry has delivered less than it promised at a far higher cost than planned, and what has been delivered has been late. The people of the Cayman Islands and the students who need proper buildings in which to learn are still waiting for the high school infrastructure that the Government promised in 2005.”

The above is taken from the aforementioned Report.

Even worse, is the Ministry responsible would appear to have tried to hide up their utter incompetence by not providing adequately the information the Auditor general asked for:

“When we requested documents needed to complete our audit of both projects, we were sometimes provided with personal files of Ministry officials. Near the end of the audit examination work for the primary schools project, we found files in the Facilities Management office that contained documents important to that project that we had not yet seen. It turned out that the source of those documents was a Ministry official’s personal file. This official should have known that we required access to those documents. It is important that all public officers know there is no such thing as a personal file when it comes to records pertaining to government activity.

“We believe that the actions of the Ministry demonstrate at best an inability to manage the information for which it is responsible. AT WORST, THE MINISTRY’S ACTIONS WERE DESIGNED TO LIMIT OUR ABILITY TO CONCLUDE CLEARLY ON THE SELECTED AUDIT OBJECTIVE AND CRITERIA.”

And the Clifton Hunter School is not safe according to the Report:

“The George Town Primary School opened on 17 May 2012 and the Sir John A. Cumber Primary School opened on 27 February 2013. However, the Certificates of Fitness for Occupancy were not issued until15 May 2013 and 6 May 2014, respectively. We are concerned that the Ministry did not obtain the appropriate approvals before these schools opened and students began attending classes. The Ministry has not provided us with letters from the Building Control Unit giving special permission to occupy these primary school buildings in advance of receiving the Certificate of Fitness for Occupancy. WE BELIEVE THAT THE MINISTRY TOOK UNNECESSARY RISKS WITH THE SAFETY AND WELFARE OF THE STUDENTS ATTENDING THE SCHOOLS ALL THAT TIME.”

And to get the school completed enough so it could open to much political fanfare the contractors were paid twice because of what can only be called a RANSOME DEMAND:
“The prime contractors for three of the four primary school buildings ran into financial difficulties during the construction. While the Ministry and the project manager worked with the contractors trying to find a way to get the prime contractors to finish the jobs, the three affected contractors eventually told the Ministry that they would not be able to complete the project without further payments from the Ministry. Exhibit 2 describes the process by which the Ministry made ex-gratia payments totaling $746,286 to the three contractors in order to have them complete the primary school construction, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR THIS WORK.”

No names have been provided in the Report. However, if you see some headless people walking about Judith has risen from the grave and is about her business.