Est.2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

Banner promoting anonymous crime reporting with a phone and contact number 1 800 TIPS (8477), featuring the Crime Stoppers logo and a QR code for submitting tips.

2021 Auditor General Report Hits ‘Bestseller’ List, Again

Ryan Straughn

← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

CONTACT THE BLOGMASTER ONLY

Auditor General, Leigh Trotman

The 2021 Auditor General Report is in and guaranteed to be another best seller. As usual Auditor General Mr. Leigh Trotman and team outlined a number of incomplete and questionable transaction done by our public servants.

What Barbadians can be guaranteed arising from the 2021 Auditor General Report is that the 2022 report will be more of the same. Although former Opposition Leader Bishop Joe Atherley has voiced concerns about a moribund Public Service Committee (PAC) during the current dispensation with no elected opposition in the Lower House – the question for the good Bishop is tell when has the workings of the PAC ever made a difference? Mind you the blogmaster is not disputing the fact the PAC is designed to be an important working committee in our system of governance.

Since taking the post of Auditor General in 2006, I have requested the filling

of a number of vacancies, and a few additional staff have been supplied. However, the

rate of loss of staff due to retirement, transfers or resignations has far outweighed the

number added. This has resulted in a chronic shortage of manpower, especially at the management level, and results in Executive Management having to take on additional

responsibilities, such as leading audit teams, which is not the best use of this resource.

2021 Auditor General Report

To be honest the blogmaster stopped reading after the Auditor General’s introductory comment on pages 9 and 10. What is the point of reading the same old same old that continues under BLP and DLP governments? There was high expectation given to the public by Minister Ryan Straughn in the finance ministry when the 2019 Public Finance Management Act was passed in parliament. To date state owned entities (SOEs) have largely ignored a key requirement of the ACT which is to present timely financials. We wonder why apathy, cynicism and significant disengagement by citizens continues to grow. Can we seriously describe what we practice as a relevant democratic system of government?

How can a people have confidence in any government of Barbados- including the BLP incumbent with its unprecedented 30-0 mandate- if it is unable to demonstrate an adequate financial management standard of public monies? The NIS fund and Clearwater comes to mind.

Why does the Auditor General have to repeat year after year, whether B or D government, that he does not have adequate resources to efficiently give account how public monies are spent? Instead the BLP administration had no problem establishing a Public Affairs Unit which many believe duplicates the functions of the Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS). We know why ‘dont’ we?

#tired #NTSH

2021 Auditor General ReportDownload

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

254 responses to “2021 Auditor General Report Hits ‘Bestseller’ List, Again”

  1. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David
    But you don’t like socialism. Is that not what the social in your socio-economic really means.

    And, for your information, when we posit that democracy must be centered as an economic system, we are talking about the equitable distribution of wealth, not about corporations like your mind set is want to presume. What can be more “socio” than that?

    If every body in Barbados had that, stinking politicians would be irrelevant. People could govern themselves. Be mistresses of their own destinies.

  2. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Enuff
    “So I stand by my point, no Auditor General should publish misleading information that tarnishes people’s reputation and face no consequences.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Is this intended to piss Bushie and others of the bushman’s ilk off too….?
    Because surely you CANNOT be serious….

    The VERY ROLE of an AuditorG is to be suspicious and to raise DIFFICULT questions to those who have been placed in PUBLIC trust.
    How the Hell do you (a person of your ilk and status) come here on BU asking that the Auditor not do so “if some shiitehound may be offended”? ….Boss….save that for the Barbados Shiite Court – where such jobby can be entertained…

    When the Auditor General has raised his allegations (as is his RIGHT) then the accused has ALL right to come PUBLICLY and explain why he was within his / her rights and where the AG erred…. PUBLIC EDUCATION and TRANSPARENCY…
    That is the PRICE that is paid for holding HIGH public office or dealing with public monies…

    If you and your friends are AVERSE to being challenged WRT your integrity, then stay to donkey out of PUBLIC business.

    You should really apologize for that position (which you NOTABLY did not have back when the AG initially raised the matter and the DLP was in office..)

  3. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Equitable distribution of wealth in a system that must be fueled by capitalists regardless of the system of government?

    Equitable distribution of wealth is a nice catch phrase to fire up the masses. Not saying there shouldn’t be a continual effort to ensure wealth flows from the 1% but there is no system known to man that has been able to fairly achieve it. Even in Russia and China, your darlings, there is an elite who earn and disproportionately control wealth AND individual freedoms.

  4. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    A case of the political class protecting itself?

  5. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    round and round the mulberry bush we go.

    Every year it’s the same story with no action and no accountability. Add that to FOI and Integrity LEgislation and once again we see we are being played like fools…

    Bajans have to demand better at some point

    Just observing

  6. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    TheO,

    You are like a “detective” who comes to a crime scene,sees a body with multiple stab wounds and declares,

    “I detect that this person has died from unnatural causes.”

    OF COURSE, I am frustrated with the system. But I maintain that with governments there is bad, worse and WORST.

    And so removing the WORST and keeping them out is better than doing nothing.

    Jeeze! Why is that so hard to understand? Is this what awaits my brain in another few years? Is this stubborn clinging to one’s illogical opinions an age thing??

    I WOULD RATHER DIE BEFORE THAT HAPPENS!

    William Skinner,

    Don’t think I did not see your misrepresentation AGAIN. THAT is NOT what I said.

  7. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Bushie
    Thanks for that reply to Enuff.

  8. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Observing
    “Bajans have to demand better at some point”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Why?
    What ‘better’ does a brass bowl ‘deserve’ than to be a convenient recipient of jobby…?

    What Bajans NEED to do, is to come to recognize their TRUE value as vessels….. of righteousness.

  9. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    All Donna has said is that she has NO CAPE. She is not WONDER WOMAN. She is no hero and has no superpowers. She has no desire to sacrifice her relatively comfy old ass for those who will not help themselves

    When others are ready to fight FOR THEMSELVES, Donna will be ready to join the army.

    This is the only way for the war to be won.

  10. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    And by your conclusion if brass bowls cannot do what is required by discharging their civic responsibility how you expect them to appreciate “their true value as vessels…of righteousness”?

  11. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. You are dangerous!

    Can the capitalist class exist without a society?

    Does it not depend on that very society for all that it has and will be?

    And if you care about real democracy, why have you never advocated, for instance, that there should be democracy at the work place?

    We have no defenses for the oligarchs in Russia, China or Barbados. We oppose them across the board. While you look to them as saviors.

    Admittedly, it’s difficult to achieve given the nature of men. However, we must try, if we’re serious about creating a better world.

  12. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Steupse! I had less trouble getting three year olds to understand.

    Sickening!

  13. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I am off to speak to some younger people.

  14. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David
    At least the Russians and the Chinese hang or disgorge they when they harm society.

    In the West there have to war sanctions to get serious actions against oligarchs.

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Let us agree that any system there is a nexus between owners of capital, labour and policymakers.

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Agree those countries you are besotted by are uncompromising in delivering ‘justice’.

  17. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    “I also stated that, in any event, the entire $120 million should not be written off since the lands on which the project was being built were valuable; instead, the value in
    the accounts should be written down rather than to be completely written off,”

    @David, in very simply terms the govts of Barbados have established and perpetuated an illegal and lawless business set of enterprises.

    The outcome and eventual disposition are more court suits that will cripple processes and not unlike Sri Lanka result in a failed economy and chaos.

    The entity of which the AG speaks in the quote above is currently in court re the sale transaction he noted but the act of ‘writing off’ that mortgage value in one fell swoop gets into accounting shenanigans that border on ILLEGALITY itself. Surely that type of lax operational admin would be attacked by a good lawyer now and for others in the future.

    The fact that an AUDIT report is being attacked in court is ridiculous … an audit is a REPORT of the flows of income and expenditures and the circumstances surrounding such so as the Bushman griot justly notes any official so identified in such a report “has ALL right to come PUBLICLY and explain why he was within his/her rights and where the AG erred….”

    Thus, it is ABSURD that legislation is NOT on the books to PREVENT any such frivolous and chilling legal action against the AUDITOR General… but of course why would there be when the same cadre of lawyers who govern us ALSO represent these scalliwags who they appointed to continually breach the accounting regs at these SOEs!

    The problem is not that this is a game, but rather why do any of us who long recognized that this stupid game theory modelling will end with NO winners do something to change this freaking mess before we crash and burn like our bigger cousins over in Asia!

    Seeing our crash coming and doing nothing to avert it other than “I told you so” warnings is … well, … idiocy, also, fah sure!

  18. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    The BoD of Clearwater is made up of rh public servants.

  19. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    “I detect that this person has died from unnatural causes.”

    An improvement on the detectives who sees a body with multiple stab wounds
    oth front and back and declares “An obvious suicide”.

    It is always good to see the truth being acknowledged.
    “I detect that this person has died from unnatural causes.”

  20. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @enuff
    I gave you an opportunity for an easy win. All you had to do was to produce two or three names of people who took the AG to court. Doesn’t matter if they win or lose..
    https://youtu.be/EdQJVGZmp-E

  21. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Donna
    “ William Skinner,

    “Don’t think I did not see your misrepresentation AGAIN. THAT is NOT what I said.”

    Respectfully, I don’t have a clue what you are referring to. I seriously don’t recall making any response to what you have written on this thread.
    Peace.

  22. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @enuff
    I must question your stance on absoloution. The report read ‘This provision should also apply to the Auditor General”. The Office isn’t excusing itself from being held accountable.
    The sad reality, is the AudGen cannot perform its role, if it is continually stymied to get reports (which are legally required) and responses on a timely basis. Also the Office seeks comment from entities it is reviewing.
    When a Board Chair, who in 99% of cases is not a public employee, can cause a report to be withheld using legal manoeuvres, then the Office needs new clothes? Next, they will begin challenging legally once any entity knows they are ‘under review/audit’. Nip it in the bud, if you will.

  23. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Bushie
    One can raise difficult questions without opening oneself to a civil suit. The AG, if he isn’t already, should make sure the report is legally vetted by his legal officer before publication.

  24. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    And the one from which the daily bread is sought still regards you as a slave. But you love it!

    How did they get to own capital as you say. Such mindless assertions cannot be accepted wholesale by a thinker.

    It’s not about uncompromising. Again you seek to denigrate the non-West. A West where bankers could collapse the entire economy, circa 2008, and not a fellow went to jail, charged. If you want uncompromising, this is it. But you are blind.

  25. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    There are no winners in these chicken and eggs (circular) debates.

  26. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ David
    Bush Tea…”And by your conclusion if brass bowls cannot do what is required by discharging their civic responsibility how you expect them to appreciate “their true value as vessels…of righteousness”?”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Try to understand the concept of CHOICE Boss…..and CHANGE.
    We can (and do) CHOOSE to be brass bowls by following a path that allows everyone to piss all over us …

    ON THE OTHER HAND, we CAN choose to follow a DIFFERENT path… one of RIGHTEOUSNESS (which just means choosing to do the RIGHT shiite), in which case, the entity that goes by various names, but who CREATED life on Earth, has promised completely different RESULTS….

    OUR CHOICE!!!

    So to your question then, if Brass Bowls persists as we have in the past, AND FAIL TO REPENT AND CHANGE, then we will get to see what REAL jobby is like….and REAL soon too…

  27. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    If I had just awoken from a six-year coma I would have thought that Freundel & Co. was still the Gov’t of the day which is a timely reminder of the old axiom “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”

  28. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Sorry but there is a trigger thought missing in your hypothesis.

  29. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    How do we move beyond the circle?
    I think of the many phrase I have seen used by some and myself in describing Barbados:
    1984
    Animal farm
    Bizarro World
    Groundhog day
    Alice in Wonderland
    Punching above its weight

    Can’t you see that we are citizens on an island in an alternative universe. The mirror images that we see is of a Barbados that is present only in our minds.

    For those of us who are thinking of returning to the Caribbean and making a home there, we need more than sea, sun and sand. But who wishes to build a home on shifting sand.

    We are thinking of a home and not of a room in a hotel. A permanent stay and not a holiday retreat. We want laws and police that protect, we want known issues to be resolved instead of being talked under the carpet.

    Can we break the circle..
    https://youtu.be/7sPc8ahc7iI

  30. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Are you saying that YOU miss the trigger? or that the trigger is absent…?
    …cause Bushie sees PLENTY triggers …
    indeed, the hypothesis outline even the trigger happy mentality that has overtaken the country…

  31. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    For the brass bowls as you refer to them to make a different choice there is a different thought process that will have to trigger it. Tell us what will force the trigger thought?

  32. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “Every year it’s the same story with no action and no accountability. Add that to FOI and Integrity LEgislation and once again we see we are being played like fools…”

    and making a bunch of STUPID EXCUSES still..while everything sinks LOWER and LOWER.

    “Boss….save that for the Barbados Shiite Court – where such jobby can be entertained…

    You should really apologize for that position (which you NOTABLY did not have back when the AG initially raised the matter and the DLP was in office..)”

    enablers..

    “At your centers of false democracies, with Whiteness characteristics, do we not still have the vestiges of chattel slavery, are Black people not still slaves in your dungeons, even in Barbados.”

    still got the chattel houses too, and some lowlife was trying to sell the shackles and chains on the internet couple years ago..

    while feudalism is BACK… and they are still marinated in Fabianism….these have NO CLUE.

  33. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ TheOGazerts,

    If you can buy a house, a car and have $5000 per month for living expenses you can live in Barbados comfortably.

    You could also have an emergency bank account with $50,000. ( medical emergencies )

  34. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    Just passed through certain areas, and the way these backward governments got the place chopped, chopped up into little slum areas with houses too close together, with no room for expansion….but that’s the best they can see for their people, while NONE OF THEM LIVE in those communities…the frauds…

  35. Dullard Avatar
    Dullard

    Same old. Same old. NTSH – nothing to see here.

    As usual, more heat than light and at the end of all the lotta long talk, the needle of change has not and will not move one nanometer.

    #BajanCondition #ThisIsWhoWeAre

  36. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David
    Uh planing yuh coffin board!😄

    https://youtu.be/iyfe-itP4UA

  37. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    William Skinner,

    Maybe it is your subconscious but you always referring to those who only see their circumstances every time I refer to mine. I did so yesterday. I did so the day before. I did so today.

    Just as you jump out to praise AOP the day after somebody criticises her.

    I can predict it. I did predict it.

    Perhaps it is a reflex action of which you are unaware. But it sure as hell is no coincidence!

  38. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Wuh you got grandchildren heh an’ you en say dat it en fuh you to save Barbados?

    STEUPSE!

    Wunnuh too funny doah!

  39. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ David
    “For the brass bowls as you refer to them to make a different choice there is a different thought process that will have to trigger it. Tell us what will force the trigger thought?”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    That is the most INCISIVE question that ANYONE has ever asked the Bushman…
    …and your initial statement is PERFECTLY correct.

    …so here is the answer.

    You are 100%correct that brass bowls are incapable of initiating the TRIGGER needed to have the required change.
    What brass bowls CAN do however, is RECOGNIZE that our current path is NOT working…and seek CHANGE.

    1 – Make the personal choice to CHOOSE the righteous path, and genuinely REPUDIATE the current brassbowlery
    2 – Genuinely and diligently SEEK out the truth, ASK for answers, KNOCK on all doors in search of Righteousness …and the DOOR WILL be opened for that person.
    3 – We were all born with five senses, (sight, hearing, touch taste and smell). When that DOOR is opened, that person will be ‘born again’ with a BRAND NEW sense that represents that SPECIAL TRIGGER of which you ask….
    4 – This ‘sixth’ sense will open the door to the REAL REALITY of our world, …which is really SPIRITUAL, as opposed to the temporary, mortal PHYSICAL project to which our natural senses normally LIMITS brass bowls….

    If you (ignore Pacha and) refer to the Bible, you will find that when asked this SAME question, Jesus directed the questioner to the need to be ‘born again of the spirit(ual)’ … ie, to be endowed with the 6th sense of the spiritual… in order to participate in the CREATORS reality.

    Everything becomes MUCH clearer after this point.
    LOL
    …even to a little shiite bushman from brassbados…
    can you IMAGINE a REAL brainiac with such a trigger…?

  40. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    Pacha….the Greek and Italian farmers told them they are not slaves and will not accept such treatment..

    let the people live in their fantasy world filled with fairy tales and goblins do….

    maybe they are much safer there….just don’t get too close..

  41. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “4 – This ‘sixth’ sense will open the door to the REAL REALITY of our world, …which is really SPIRITUAL, ”

    for some reason, they are not reaching, it, shut out…doing something wrong.

    remember that 25% i spoke about, well they could not leave that out…even for them….it would have had dire consequences…got away with the 75% of pure shite though…

  42. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Waru

    We know not a social scientist worth her salt, a developmental economist, a futurist, who is convincing that the West can exit this perdition we’ve entered.

    We’ll ignore reality at our peril.

  43. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    First thing they HAVE TO DO…is get rid of these CLOWNS IN DRESSES…

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/music/church-of-england-there-is-no-official-definition-of-a-woman/ar-AAZqgBL?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=00df753119de4083abccff6416c4f9cc

    they are the carriers/purveyors of fabianism and PURE LIES, a disease…….determined to MISLEAD THE WORLD..

  44. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “We’ll ignore reality at our peril.”

    if they are ignoring it, weeeee cannot help them…

    Bushman said it on here recently

    ….i have videos on my sites about it,

    many people over the years told them often…

    SPIRITUALITY IS REALITY…

    everything else IS LIES AND FRAUD……a charade….a FACADE….A MASQUERADE…

  45. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @Hants
    That is very good information.
    You partially answered a question that I wanted to ask but never did.
    How much would it take for a retiree to have a comfortable life in Barbados.

  46. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    because of ever escalating prices you will need more than 5K….that was before all the mess started…

    a comfortable lifestyle depending on how you define comfortable, plus family size etc can run you a maximunm..13K per month……and it’s rising not going down..

    gotta be real frugal..

  47. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Donna
    You are terribly wrong. I have always maintained that in order to change any society , we cannot become so comfortable with our personal “ circumstance” that we ignore the reality of others who are being suppressed.
    I write as general comment and not as any conscious or subconscious reference to you
    Quite frankly, I was most impressed with your response to @Lisa re : the senior citizen’s plight Certainly , that clearly showed your empathy toward others.
    I write from deeply held philosophical, ideological and political perspectives . These were not planted last week or with the emergence of BU.
    I don’t take myself that seriously . Most of what I believe has been long ago rejected by the society. Those , who know , just allow me to dream on.
    That’s why I was a bit confused when you made the statement because it certainly was not in anyway a reference to you.
    Peace.

  48. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    Pacha…i see these liars sent out some empty suit on nationnews recently claiming things are picking up….of course ONLY IN THEIR MINDS…

    they still don’t get that their LIES HAVE NO MORE POWER…

    “Developing world to face wave of defaults – Bloomberg

    Emerging nations, including El Salvador, Ghana, Egypt, Tunisia and Pakistan, will be challenged with a historic cascade of defaults as a quarter-trillion-dollar pile of distressed debts keeps exerting downward pressure on economies, Bloomberg is reporting.

    “With the low-income countries, debt risks and debt crises are not hypothetical,” the World Bank’s Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart told the agency on Saturday. “We’re pretty much already there.”

    Over the past six months, there’s reportedly been a doubling in the number of emerging markets with sovereign debt that trades at highly distressed levels, meaning yields that indicate investors believe default is a real possibility.”

  49. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    William….this is real.

    everything else is IRRELEVANT..

  50. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    The Auditor General has uncovered cases of people who were no longer employed by the multi-billion dollar National Insurance Scheme (NIS) but their access to the NIS’ computer system had not been deactivated.

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading