EPA understaffed, workers underpaid - audit finds

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is inadequately staffed, according to the findings of an audit conducted by former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran, who has concluded that the salaries offered are unattractive and has resulted in a high staff turnover.

Goolsarran was tasked with conducting a forensic audit of the EPA and was subsequently requested by the Minister within the Ministry of Finance to do additional work.

In a supplementary report on the forensic audit and review of the EPA, which was uploaded to the Ministry of Finance’s website last Thursday, he said that the Agency has been operating with severe staff constraints.

It was stated that then Ministry of Natural Resources had approved of a staff structure of only 97, whereas the Agency estimated that 262 officers were needed to properly discharge its mandate. Based on a table contained in the report, though 45 staff members were desired for technical services, there were none at May, 2015. Out of the 90 persons desired for environmental management compliance, there were only 27. Others areas where there were staff shortages were biodiversity management, environmental management permitting, administrative services and education, information and training.

Goolsarran noted that environmental management compliance and the environmental management permitting departments are the “backbone of the agency” and combined they were operating with a staff strength of approximately 38% of the deserved level.

“This, coupled with high staff turnover due to the low levels of salaries offered, would have had an exacerbating effect on the operations of not only these two divisions but also for the organisation as a whole,” he said.

With regard to the low level of emoluments, the report said that the salaries were not attractive enough to recruit and retain adequate numbers of qualified and trained personnel as the salary scales were similar to those of the traditional public service.

Goolsarran cited as an example the position of legal officer, which attracted a salary of $262,107 per month and the Finance Officer, a professionally qualified accountant, earning $226,362 per month to illustrate the situation. It was stated that although the Agency is semi-autonomous, with its own legislation and a board, there was “an over-involvement in decisionmaking by the then Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment as well as the Public Service Ministry, especially in the area of recruitment.”

The report stated that EPA was treated as a Department of the subject Ministry.

It also pointed out that although most of the officers were required to be in the field, they did not benefit from duty-free concessions to assist them to acquire their own vehicles. “The Agency had a limited number of vehicles that could be used to undertake field trips. Given the age of these vehicles, operating and maintenance costs were also very high,” it said.

It was also noted that the agency had no pension plan and as a result staff members were recruited on a contractual basis but at the same public service salary scales and they obtained a gratuity every six months.

The report said that the gratuity could hardly be a substitute for a dedicated pension plan, whether contributory or noncontributory. It was posited that such a plan is likely to provide for a more settled organisation in terms of staff recruitment and retention.

The report also noted that the agency is housed in a building with limited office space, where “the physical environment is unsuited for its operations.”

It was pointed out that there are no laboratory facilities for the testing of samples at the Sophia location.

The Agency had requested in its capital expenditure programme for 2015 an amount of $200 million for the construction of a new ‘green’ building. However, as at May 31, 2015, the Government’s Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure had not been presented to the National Assembly. Management commented that in the 2016 budget, an amount of $40 million has been allocated to commence construction work on a new building, the report said.

Achievements

According to the report, during the period 2012 to 2014, the agency recorded a number of achievements, despite the severe constraints. It was stated that the achievements outlined in the 2012 annual report, which was presented in the National Assembly, “shied away” from referring to those constraints.

Among the achievements outlined were the fact that 316 of the 381 applications for environmental authorisations were processed by the end of the year. This figure represented 83% of the applications received.

Giving a breakdown, the report said that 65 environmental permits, 75 operational permits, five construction permits, six letters of authorisations and 165 noise permits were granted by the agency.

It was stated that two of the applications required Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) – the Marriott Hotel and EKT Mining—both of which were issued with Environmental Authorisations in May and July, 2012, respectively. Seven applications required the preparation of Environmental Management Plans (EMPs). Most of the applications not processed to finality relate to the non-submission of outstanding information.

The report said too that a total of 245 inspections were carried out as part of the authorisation process in addition to 91 environmental audits and 161 follow-up inspections. 326 environmental complaints were also received, of which 120 were investigated, while 33 complaints were referred to the relevant Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).

In 2013, out of a total of 392 applications, 244 were processed and in 2014, out of 278, 102 were processed.

The report stated that at the time of the review, the Agency had approximately 2,200 developers’ files on hand. “The room in which these files were stored was very congested and access was not restricted,” it said, while adding that in addition the computerised database of developers was kept and updated in an open office.

Explanations obtained indicated that the Agency was constrained by the limited space in which to operate and that the proposal to have a new building is likely to resolve the problem, the report added.

It indicated that management commented that an additional clerk has since been recruited and there is now restricted access to developers’ files.