Greg Christie, the Contractor General, has written to public sector bosses to complain about the failure of a number of departments and agencies to file, within the deadline, reports on contracts they have entered.

According to Mr. Christie, in July, he sent reminders to 191 public bodies that are obligated to submit such reports, but only 81 met his September 15 deadline, which means that approximately 58 per cent of the bodies had breached the requirement.

Up to earlier this week, a mere 13 per cent of the same companies had filed similar reports for the fiscal third quarter, which began in October. These reports were due, Mr. Christie says, by the end of October.

There are those who may not necessarily agree with Mr. Christie's tone and his clear penchant for public declarations of plans and intent. The uncharitable may even claim, as has happened, a narcissistic streak on the part of the Contractor General.

But whatever his motivation, Mr. Christie has brought a new vigour and energy to the office of the Contractor General and a clear intent that it can't be business as usual. Over the years, Mr. Christie's predecessors, in reports to Parliament, have complained of the failure of public agencies to follow the rules, while civil society has been concerned about the ruses used to create loopholes through the regulations. We have seen the potential for unaccountable behaviour and corruption.

Part of the response to such behaviour is for the authorities to put in place more regulation, which, unfortunately, has not been backed by rigorous enforcement. Mr. Christie has suggested that he is about to start.

In that regard, we welcome his recent public announcements of the things he has done, what he plans to do and his identification of those he deems to be in breach. Even when there are challenges to Mr. Christie's public assertions and suggestions that his statements are not contextual, we, in this circumstance, are willing to live with a degree of shooting from the hip if it does not do serious violence to the process.

That, perhaps, is a small price to pay for creating a culture of respect for rules and regulation. For, as Mr. Christie declares, and the numbers suggest, failure to abide by the regulations covering the reporting of contracts is systemic.

Mr. Christie has said that his office will act "forthrightly and dispassionately" in accordance with the law that provides him with his powers. We are not clear whether the letter he sent this week to Permanent Secretaries and principal accounting officers of the public bodies adequately fulfils the requirement for notice. If so, now that people have been warned, we expect to see specific action from Mr. Christie.

Mr. Audley Shaw

We commend Mr. Audley Shaw for doing the decent thing by recusing himself from the chair of the Public Accounts Committee - at least for the rest of its hearing into the Sandals Whitehouse affair - for his comments about Dr. Vin Lawrence, who is to give important testimony before the committee.

This newspaper takes no pleasure in having prodded Mr. Shaw. He is, however, aware that the PAC is about serious business and as the saying goes, justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.