Former island administrator for West Grand Bahama Brenda Colebrooke, who was condemned in an Auditor General’s Office report, keeps moving up the ladder and is now serving as Acting Director of Local Government.
Colebrooke was run out of West Grand Bahama following the damning report, which revealed that the revenue accounts of the central government in West Grand Bahama were being grossly manipulated and represented a misuse of public funds.
Auditor General Terrence Bastian discovered that the funds collected by the central government were not deposited to the bank in a timely manner, revenue collected could not be traced to related reports and funds collected were not brought to account within a timely manner in an effort to mitigate the risk of theft or misuse of public funds.
Revenue collected for the period May 27 to June 13, 2016 totaled $486 but the deposit slip said $585 - an overage
of $99.
Revenue collected for June 7 and June 23 totaled $420 but the deposit slip was for $320 - a $100 shortage.
Bastian recommended that the custodian in the West Grand Bahama district be held accountable for the practice of the manipulation of public funds.
Following these revelations, Colebrooke offered to resign but never did. Instead of being held accountable as suggested by the respected Auditor General, Colebrooke - who is tight with Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest - fled West Grand Bahama and landed a senior position in Local Government.
She even became part of a national advisory committee launched to implement local government on New Providence. The committee’s list of recommendations is now taking up space under a pile of paper on a shelf in some Minister’s office.
Her former colleagues in West Grand Bahama are now left wondering if it’s not what you do but who you know.
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