Funds go to build youth center, project unfinished
Cayman Islands auditors looking into how cash provided as part of the government’s former Nation Building Fund was spent have received a full accounting from one North Side church.
Following a story in the Cayman Compass on July 31 that revealed auditors had requested all churches receiving money from the controversial fund to show how they spent it, Pastor Ellen Peguero of the Church of God in Frank Sound responded on Aug. 11.
“In total, we received $225,000 from the Nation Building Fund,” Pastor Peguero said. “At no time were we of the view or opinion that we were involved in any wrongdoing or that we were receiving funds as part of any under-handed scheme. “
A form letter sent from the auditor general’s office to more than a dozen churches around Grand Cayman sought – under the governor’s authority – all supporting documents and invoices for Nation Building Fund money spent by the churches. In addition, auditors requested the ability to perform site inspections and asked churches to respond to questions about the funding.
According to audit office representatives, some churches were more responsive than others.
With regard to the Frank Sound church, all $225,000 received between 2009 and 2013 from the Nation Building Fund went to the construction of a new youth center which is planned to be part of the church’s Fusion Youth Ministry. An itemized list of all specific expenses for the project, two pages long, was given to auditors and to the Compass.
Pastor Peguero took the Compass on a tour of the building Friday. It is a large hall attached to the main church building on Frank Sound Road. The center, which was built to withstand hurricane-force winds, is now complete.
However, the inside of the hall still looks like a construction area, and Mrs. Peguero said additional funds are needed to complete it. Eventually, in addition to the large meeting room, the church seeks to build a main stage, a sound room upstairs, stations for iPads and age appropriate video games in the hall, as well as an administrative office in the back. “We have champagne dreams, but a beer budget,” Pastor Peguero said.
In addition to the $225,000 from the Nation Building Fund, the church itself raised nearly $175,000 for the project. To fit out the inside of the building, they need another $75,000 and eventually, some $130,000 will be required for a parking lot.
“We hope to have a 24/7 youth center,” Mrs. Peguero said, adding that the church wants to operate the building on Friday and Saturday nights as a place for youngsters to hang out, as opposed to being on the street. “We really don’t have any facilities for them to go to in this district [on weekend nights].”
Pastor Peguero said the Frank Sound Church of God takes a keen interest in the secular achievements and activities of its younger flock, and the community center is a part of that.
“If this [project] isn’t nation-building, I don’t know what is,” she said Friday. “Every youth reached is one less youth likely to be involved in wrongdoing or deviant behavior. This, we believe, is the best value for money.”
Public funds
Allegations of corruption surrounding the Nation Building Fund disbursements from the previous United Democratic Party government have swirled for years in the public domain.
Finance Minister Marco Archer said during the 2013 general election campaign that church grants from the fund were more than questionable.
“Absolutely, unequivocally, I believe that the money that was given to those churches amounts to nothing more than corruption,” he said during a candidate debate in early 2013. “If you look at the way the money was given, it was going to select churches. It was not given publicly, it was given under the table.”
McKeeva Bush has denied such allegations on many occasions.
“There is nothing wrong with government giving money to church and community programs,” he said.
A Compass review of grants from the Nation Building Fund between December 2009 and June 2012 found that a total of $9.5 million was spent, with $4.6 million of that going to churches or religious groups.
According to government records, of the $4.6 million, about half went to two churches, Wesleyan Holiness in West Bay ($1.3 million) and the Church of God in Bodden Town ($1 million).
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How in the world can giving money in the building of Gods Temple be corruption. Caymanians and any other interest need to stop hiding behind their pencils, state their names and come forward and explain show were corruption has taken place. On the suggestions of money given to select churches. WHY NOT? Should money have been given to those FLY BY NIGHT CHURCHES being held in home car garages, tents and on people’s back porches. Or should it be given to long standing churches and youth centers who have served their community and struggled for donkey years. Cayman is small, and everyone is a shiny copper penny on a Sunday drive out. You can see where and what everything is going on, There is absolutely no need for speculation and wondering who is who and what is where.
After growing up and going to the same schools with most of our politicians, I was of the foolish opinion that we all remembered where we came from. However, it is so plain to see that my Cayman people are too easily influenced, and has allowed money and power to turn them ugly. Fighting against the church an their own people, Now have you heard such a thing like that?.
We have a fund that churches, who want to build a community centre can use? Great! If we add together the costs of housing and keeping young people at HMP Northward. it looks like it might be a better idea to keep them involved in church and community! Certainly, a lot less nerve racking for the families involved. Your story on the 13-14 year olds, charged and appearing in court on burlary charges was so very sad! Do we think they could have benefitted from a community centre or a church based intervention? If there is ever any end to the nit picking here, maybe our money (and it is ours!) would be better spent investing in churches and other community based organizations than on making short term loans to politicians to purchase jewelry and other such related nonsense! Trips to the Ritz Carlton Hotels and wasting travel time would be better invested in the future of young Caymanians. If they are our future, please help them to thrive in safe areas with people around who will love and protect them from the harms of the world! I say give Pastor Peguero the funds to finish the church’s youth entre. After all, if even one doesn’t wind up at Northward,it would be worth the investment!
Thanks carol for a good response. Of course we still have those no name that still hiding behind the pencils and can only tick disagree.
Correctly so the Auditor General is checking the books. The question as to whether the money was issued correctly has long been seen by many, to be questionably suspect. The question now, was the money spent in keeping with good financial management and was value for money gained. Believe me it should be a straightforward look through each project folder to agree the spend.
Given that the disbursement of public funds would have to be accounted for, each custodian would have been signatured in compliance as a prerequisite, you think?. Business case and project details a must in order to get the money. I personally believe that government should complete its constitutional obligations, such as adequate public schools before attempting social engineering by other means. One of the great democratic principles enshrined in most modern constitutions is the separation of church and state, and people much smarter than me saw the need for that.
Thank you Twyla! Hind sight is always 20/20 and in these times we are all praying for it! Pastor Ellen, may you thrive and your church and its’ Youth Centre too. We need all the help we can get with the young people of every district on this island. It is so much easier to keep them busy and gainfully occupied than it is to bury them with borrowed money and try to tend their broken bodies and spirits when the ways of the world go wrong! Keep up your dreams and God will bless you and the Centre will be done and used for the glory of God and your community! Keeping you in all of our prayers!
I am pleased that Pastor Ellen has spent the money wisely. Each of us makes moral decisions that we hope will remain hidden. But as Paston Ellen knows the bible speaks of the day when the books will be opened before god and all mankind, and each person will be judged accordingly. Politicians need get a handle on this as it does appear the auditor general is opening such books somewhat prematurely, particulary credit card records.