Poor governance!
Auditor general lectures finance ministry for $22 million overpayments to advisers
IN BLATANT disregard for its own rules, the Ministry of Finance, over the period 20102016, approved salaries that were $26 million in excess of the maximum for 22 advisers and assistants engaged across three selected ministries, the auditor general has found.
In a report tabled in the Houses of Representatives yesterday, Pamela Monroe Ellis, said despite requests, the finance ministry “did not present evidence of the assessments undertaken to justify” the payments which ranged from 15 per cent to 136 per cent.
The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information were subjected to the performance audit, which covered the period April 2010 to August 2016.
The audit was done to determine whether value for money was obtained from the use of the consultants, advisers and assistants to ministers, and whether procurement of consultancy services was in keeping with government guidelines.
“The audit revealed weaknesses in governance practices and a lack of transparency in the conduct of some procurement opportunities. As a result, the Government may not at all times have attained value for money,” Monroe Ellis said.
One of the weaknesses pointed out related to the breach of pay scale guidelines. The auditor general said of a sample of 68 advisers and assistants engaged by the three departments over the period, 22 got salaries in excess of set scale. Four of these advisers are currently employed, two at the Office of the Prime Minister and two at the Ministry of Finance.
Using the pay scale, the report said that the contracts would amount to approximately $51 million. However, $76.9 million was paid out.
The auditor general lectured the finance ministry on breaching its own guidelines. “As developers of the guidelines and vanguards of the public purse, it is incumbent on the Ministry of Finance to ensure transparency and provide assurance that value for money is received.”
In response, the ministry said “from time to time” ministries engaged advisers who could not be retained on the set salary scale because of their experience and tasked to be undertaken. “In those instances, the compensation unit assess the terms of reference submitted, along with CVs of those individuals to determine the worth of the jobs,” the ministry said.
JAMAICA’S GROWTH projection will take a significant hit, two financial analysts have said following disclosure that the preliminary estimate of damage associated with four events of flooding since March is approximately $4 billion, and agriculture, a key driver, facing a major fallout.
That amount includes $2.1 billion from the National Works Agency (NWA) for the cost to reopen roadways and clear drains, and $1.3 billion the local government ministry said parishes incurred in damage from the May 1317 floods.
Losses to the agriculture sector from the mid-May devastation is approximately $522 million.
Total costs will go beyond $4 billion, the NWA warned in its submission to Parliament’s Infrastructure and Physical Development Committee that considered the impact of the flooding in yesterday’s meeting.
“The total estimated cost to reopen roads and clear drains of J$2.1 billion relates solely to the cost of effecting road clearance and drain-cleaning works and does not include any works that are intend to restore affected road infrastructure,” the agency said.
Earlier this month, director general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, Dr Wayne Henry, said Jamaica remained on track to achieve the projected 2.3 per cent GDP growth for the current 2017-2018 fiscal year.