Government is to blame for the near collapse of women's drug rehab centre Fair Havens, Council Partners Charitable Trust chairman Henry Smith has claimed.

And he accused Health Minister Nelson Bascome of misleading the public by blaming the CPCT in a bid to dodge the flak over his own failures which had brought drug treatment "to the verge of collapse".

Last year island drug retreat Camp Spirit closed for eight months, counselling service Focus ran into financial trouble while Fair Havens nearly shut its doors before an eleventh hour reprieve.

In yesterday's Royal Gazette Mr. Bascome said this was the fault of the CPCT.

But Mr. Smith said: "We have never withheld funding from Fair Havens. We have expressed concern about the lack of client referrals by other organisations involved in assessment.

"The decision to close Fair Havens was taken by the Fair Havens' Board as a result of the absence of referrals from Bermuda Assessment Referral Centre (BARC).

"We learned that Fair Havens was going to shut its doors at the same time as the rest of the community."

Mr. Smith said BARC was now in the hands of Government. He said: "BARC was part of the NDC. My understanding is the Minister made a decision to transfer it to another Ministry.

"It is important to clarify what the Minister already knows - we do not govern the agencies that we fund.

"They each have their own constitutions and governing boards and have been funded jointly by the National Drug Commission and CPCT.

"Minister Bascome's comment that we are an umbrella organisation with governance responsibility for these organisations is simply incorrect.

"The agencies' programmes and their effectiveness are the responsibility of the individual agency boards and not the CPCT."

Mr. Bascome failed to return calls to The Royal Gazette yesterday.

Asked what he thought had led to Mr. Bascome's outburst Mr. Smith said: "I can only guess he is taking a lot of heat and just responded to it."

He said the CPCT raised private sector cash and worked with Government quango the National Drug Agency to funds agencies and to enhance awareness of the drug and alcohol abuse problems in Bermuda.

Mr. Smith said: "It is extremely concerning when the Minister who has responsibility for the alcohol and drug prevention and treatment system on this Island, and who should be knowledgeable of the roles of those involved in it, can publicly make so many inaccurate and misleading comments.

"The CPCT has evolved as the funding partner of the NDC. The NDC is an organisation that reports directly to the Minister and his Permanent Secretary."

He said, since its inception in 1996, the CPCT had allocated almost $9 million to various agencies.

"In the second quarter of 2002, we decided to withhold further funding from Focus because of an unexplained $90,000 deficit," he said.

"This was a difficult decision to make and was taken only after repeated requests for information from Focus' board and management."

Mr Bascome had complained that Government had been forced to bail out Focus.

But Mr. Smith said: "We have a responsibility to report back to our donors and to the community about the effectiveness of their investment.

"We take that duty very seriously, we require accountability from the agencies that we fund.

"The Minister's comments are disappointing, as is his decision to change the leadership of the National Drug Commission when the treatment system is on the verge of collapse."

He said it was strange to axe NDC head Malcolm Butterfield without even consulting the CPCT.

"I was very surprised with it. We had been working very closely trying to pull the system together."

"The CPCT has spent substantial time building our partnership with the NDC for many years with the understanding that the National Drug Commission would take full ownership of the National Plan and primary responsibility for the drug and alcohol abuse prevention and treatment system in Bermuda, with The CPCT supporting their efforts by raising funds.

"We were in the final stages of agreeing on a process that would allow our two organisations to reach joint allocation decisions while preserving the CPCT's ability to protect the interests of our donors.

"The Minister's actions may well result in unnecessary confusion and delay as we attempt to put the finishing touches to a successful NDC/CPCT working partnership."

Mr. Smith is holidaying in the US but said he looked forward to meeting with the Minister as per his request.

Mr. Smith said: "Indeed, I am extremely surprised that he has taken such important decisions and made such critical comments without speaking to me or a representative of the CPCT beforehand."

Yesterday Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley also stood up for the CPCT and said Mr. Bascome was being hypocritical and very misleading.

He said Mr. Bascome was well aware the CPCT was a fundraising body but the NCD had responsibility for running programmes and the Minister was ultimately responsible.

"To lay the blame on the Council Partners is not acceptable. He is only trying to shift the blame to someone else."

Mr. Dunkley said the NDC had worked well under Dr. Derrick Binns as CEO but had been on rocky ground since he left to become Permanent Health Secretary.

He said: "Why is Fair Havens without any clients? It's because the Bermuda Assessment and Referral Centre refuses to allocate any people to Fair Havens, that's why.

"I would think the Minister should get on top of the problem and find out why that is."

Mr. Dunkley said the Minister should host talks with all the agencies to get to the root of the problems and sort out a better structure.