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Public Accounts Committee and Auditor General MUST Recommit to Holding Public Officers Accountable

  This Committee scrutinises the value for money – the economy, efficiency and effectiveness – of public spending and generally holds the government and its civil servants to account for the delivery of public services. As delivery models for public services have changed, so the reach of the Committee, in following the taxpayer’s pound, has…

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Chris Sinckler, former Minister of Finance
Michael Lashley, DLP Executive Member
Denis Kellman, Minister of Housing

 

This Committee scrutinises the value for money – the economy, efficiency and effectiveness – of public spending and generally holds the government and its civil servants to account for the delivery of public services. As delivery models for public services have changed, so the reach of the Committee, in following the taxpayer’s pound, has spread beyond government departments to also examine public bodies and private companies providing public services – UK Parliament

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is an important working committee of parliament, Its purpose is to be a watchdog of public spending. It is unfortunate that in our post-independence period the PAC has not prosecuted the many obvious cases of financial malfeasance read the flouting of the financial rules of government. The BU household is not surprised that the attempt to call three ministers of government to account – Chris Sinckler, Denis Kellman and Michael Lashley – has become mired in ‘process’ issues. What is new!

An ineffective PAC translates to an ineffective Auditor General whose many reports laid in parliament have been largely ignored by the political class. It has become a pointless exercise by the media (traditional and social) to highlight the Auditor General reports and the workings of the PAC. The BU household is pleased to read about attempts to enforce the law in an attempt to breath life into the PAC and by extension the Auditor General’s office –these are after all important organs of our governance system designed to ensure the people’s business is well managed.

We live in hope.

Read 2015 Auditor General Report

69 responses to “Public Accounts Committee and Auditor General MUST Recommit to Holding Public Officers Accountable”

  1. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    Miller
    You are correct and so is Kellman however the inquiry into the St Joseph hospital fiasco found that the minister was complicit in what went on in his ministry and he paid the price.

  2. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David December 11, 2016 at 4:11 PM

    Yes, Sir!

    Just like how all Opposition leaders behave when they smell victory at the next polls.
    Remember the D T walk out of Parliament even with Dennis the Menace in tow? Yet their monthly pay was not docked like the teachers.

    You must understand you are dealing with the political class and not ‘honourable’ men and women.

    There is some merit, if taken to the extreme, in what, Pachamama talks about regarding the guillotine.

    Maybe this is the time in the cycle of the grand scheme of things for another French-like revolution to clean the filth from the sty so that another set of political pigs can start shitting on the brass bowl people over again.

  3. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    No one wants to be held accountable or take responsible.,.the chief accounting officers will say they were acting on directives from the 3 ministers….who we all know were acting on phone calls they sat on tgpheir lazy asses waiting for from Maloney, Bizzy et al…to hear what the next scam against the taxpayers should be.

    I guess all their names will be bouncing around the bligs as thieves and crooks for years to come as long as none of the ministers want to be held accountable for unfairly dishing out contracts and taxpayer’s money for bribes and a cut off the top from minorities..that is their legacy, ah hope they are proud.

    Violet, you are living to see them all go up in smoke…lol

  4. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “The PAC ought to be summonsing the chief accounting officers of the ministries/departments/ statutory bodies involved and legally responsible for the proper accounting of taxpayers’ monies.”

    “It is only there and then we would know if the political directorate i.e. ministers of the Crown have abused their political power by overstepping the line of policy approval and have dabbled in the realm of financial infelicities.”

    I have to agree with the above comments, but will add that perhaps the Permanent Secretaries of the ministries in question are the individuals that should have been summoned by the PAC, especially in the absence of any definitive evidence revealed by the Auditor General that directly identifies a minister as being responsible for authorizing payments or polices, which subsequently lead to the financial infelicities described in the AG’s reports.

    However, similarly to when a minister seeks to take credit for a successful project or policy initiative, why should he/she not accept responsibility when there is failure?

    And I must also agree that Mr. Kellman does not UNDERSTAND or INTENTIONALLY mis-defines the meaning of the accrual and cash basis systems of accounting.

    Also, Michael Lashley is ALLEGED to have written on social media that ministers should ignore any summons, from the chair-person, to attend PAC meetings, because “A person without a Law Certificate which is required by Law in Barbados to be considered as a Lawyer has no legal authority to summons anyone.”

  5. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Art..that would mean that if the permanent secretaries were not given directives by those 3 ministers to dish out contracts and taxpayers money to the Maloney, Bizzys etc, they all acted on their own initiative and were contacted directly by those crooks, which is highly unlikely, seeing that Maloney, Bizzy, Bjerkham and company, deals with and barks at the ministers directly…to show everyone who is boss.

    That is why I keep saying, it’s way too easy for minorities to pick up a telephone, call up, demand to speak to and reach government ministers, it should not be happening.

    The majority population who with their large numbers in the population put the ministers in parliament and are the ones should be doing this, cannot just call them up and make demands and neither should the minorities.

  6. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Well Well & Consequences December 12, 2016 at 3:30 AM #

    “Art..that would mean that if the permanent secretaries were not given directives by those 3 ministers to dish out contracts and taxpayers money to the Maloney, Bizzys etc, they all acted on their own initiative and were contacted directly by those crooks, which is highly unlikely, seeing that Maloney, Bizzy, Bjerkham and company, deals with and barks at the ministers directly…to show everyone who is boss.”

    @ WW&C

    Exactly the point I was getting to.

    If the PS were summoned by the PAC, they should be obligated to reveal whether or not they were directed by ministers to circumvent government policy and authorize the awarding of contracts or the payment of public funds to contractors.

    Under these circumstances (and with substantiating evidence), the PAC could enforce legal proceedings, as stipulated by the PAC Act, against any minister.

  7. David Avatar
    David

    Ronald Hascombe now retired PS at Housing was summons by the PAC and what happened?

  8. ac Avatar
    ac

    When Mottley stop playing politics maybe she would grasp an understanding of the legalties governing parliamentary laws rules and guidlines which can stop her from making stupid judgement calls over and over again

  9. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Artax December 12, 2016 at 7:42 AM
    “If the PS were summoned by the PAC, they should be obligated to reveal whether or not they were directed by ministers to circumvent government policy and authorize the awarding of contracts or the payment of public funds to contractors.
    Under these circumstances (and with substantiating evidence), the PAC could enforce legal proceedings, as stipulated by the PAC Act, against any minister.”

    And you see why this is just one big pappy show put on by both sides of the political class of actors in the game of using taxpayers’ money for their parties and their own political ends and personal aggrandizement?

    Instead of going into to business in the private sector to get rich these politicians see the ministerial route as the quickest way to get hold of fast bucks; and with a compliant feeble cadre of senior public servants who also wish to live above the lifestyle their official remunerations can hardly afford the taxpayers are screwed.

    How come these senior public servants are not exposed and made to pay for these blatant acts of financial infelicities and sheer unprofessionalism.

    Or is it only the junior officers who are cashiered and brought before the criminal courts.

    Permanent secretaries are all chief accounting officers of their respective ministries along with the Heads of Departments.

  10. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “Ronald Bascombe now retired PS at Housing was summons by the PAC and what happened?”

    What Happened:

    1) As it relates to the $2.46M per month NHC was receiving from the Treasury, NHC’s General Manager Lynette Napoleon-Young, Financial Controller, Carolyn Barton and Chief Legal Officer, Henrietta Bourne-Forde, and Housing Ministry PS, Ronald Bascombe, could not verify if there was parliamentary approval for the disbursement of those funds, or whether the funds were a grant or a loan.

    2) Jeptar Ince, who was government’s representative on the PAC at that time, raised concern “about the way the NHC representatives were questioned.”

    3) “At the end of the near hour-and-a-half long session in the Senate chamber, the BLP leader and other committee members were still SEARCHING for ANSWERS to SEVERAL QUESTIONS about the NHC’s FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.”

    In your opinion, who do you believe should be held accountable, if the principal officials of the NHC were unable to account for the management of NHC’s financial resources?

  11. David Avatar
    David

    IF former PS Ronald Bascombe and his accounting officers could ”not verify if there was parliamentary approval for the disbursement of those funds, or whether the funds were a grant or a loan”, houston, we have a problem!.

  12. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    millertheanunnaki December 12, 2016 at 10:12 AM #

    “And you see why this is just one big pappy show put on by both sides of the political class of actors in the game of using taxpayers’ money for their parties and their own political ends and personal aggrandizement?”

    @ Miller

    Recall the DLP’s 2008 election campaign strategy was based on accountability and transparency. They even dedicated 4 pages of their 2008 election manifesto to “Good Governance.”

    Shorty after the DLP parliamentarians were assigned to their respective ministries, we heard daily complaints from each minister about the “financial mess” they found, left behind by the BLP.
    We heard about the corruption; cost-overruns; commencement of projects without contracts; missing UDC houses; and Thompson being “convinced that millions of dollars “bizarrely spent” during the previous BLP Administration are now stashed in foreign bank accounts.”

    Nine 9 years, this DLP administration is yet to DISCLOSE the DEPTH and EXTENT of the “mess” they discovered as well as FILE criminal suits against any member of the former BLP Cabinet.

    Also:

    1) PM Stuart and AG Brathwaite have not revealed anything further about the “improprieties” they witnessed during the 2013 general elections and the course of action undertaken to prevent future occurrences.

    2) AG Brathwaite has not disclosed the results of his promised investigations relative to Mottley and the LEC.

    3) Sinckler, AG Brathwaite or any representative of the RBPF have not informed Barbadians about the status of investigations into the death threat police allegedly heard by two men making against Sincker.

    Essentially, Miller, you are absolutely correct……… when you examine the above scenarios, and especially taking into consideration the BLP undertook similar action when they gain office in 1994, “this is just one big pappy show put on by both sides of the political class of actors.”

  13. racehrse Avatar
    racehrse

    Business as usual! Who in the country has the nerve to put this to an end. In a few months they’ll be passing out Barrow’s in the voting line…………..

  14. Exclaimer Avatar
    Exclaimer

    “Collecting tax is one of the key means by which governments are
    able to address poverty and inequality. But big business is dodging
    tax on an industrial scale, depriving governments across the globe
    of the money they need to address poverty and invest in healthcare,
    education and jobs. This report exposes the world’s worst
    corporate tax havens – extreme examples of a destructive race to
    the bottom on corporate tax which has seen governments across
    the globe slash corporate tax bills in an attempt to attract business.
    It calls on governments to work together to put a stop to this before
    it is too late.”

    http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/12/14/blacklisted/

    https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp-race-to-bottom-corporate-tax-121216-en.pdf

  15. Exclaimer Avatar
    Exclaimer

    The rhetoric used by some of our politicians is off the scale.

    Why is Donville Inniss using threatening and abusive language against this Oxfam report?

    The report highlights the reason why our infrastructure is on the verge of implosion.

  16. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Equally as interesting in the same paper are 1) the MoF extends the local borrowing capacity by a further Billion 2) the penalties on outstanding monies owed to gov’t, also claimed to a Billion, are waived.

  17. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    I cannot understand why anyone, including voters in St James South, should take Donville Inniss seriously. He is a classic buffoon. Voter must remove him from public life.

  18. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    Exclaimer
    Pornville Inniss is playing to the catholic DLP gallery.They are the only JA’s who would believe him.Try and encourage the 40% to go to the polls next General Election and not stay away like they did in 2013.There has been nothing but destruction of the economy and the middle class ever since then.

  19. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    This story….we are NOT a tax haven has been bleated endlessly….beginning with the Gov of CB on down. They seem to think one needs to have a zero tax rate, and no reciprocal tax treaties, to be deemed a tax haven. Not true. Donville is only following suit, trying to protect what is a valuable sector of the economy.

    Then Minister Inniss goes on…”Inniss accused Oxfam of wanting Barbados to “come with a begging bowl” to it, rather than praising this country for lifting its people out of poverty.”

    This on the same day the MoF extended borrowing limits an extra Billion!!!! Does he appreciate DEBT is poverty? That he nor his government are doing a damn thing to alleviate poverty, but just taking on more debt, which is ensuring poverty. And worse, Bim is borrowing from itself, it can’t just declare bankruptcy and tell the foreign lenders to take a hike.

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