Ministry of Finance & Auditor General conflict of interest?
Speaking to our regular senior National Democratic Party (NDP) sources, it is our understanding that Premier and Minister of Finance Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL) formed a task force to help with reviewing the Treasury Reports.
The committee or task force is headed by M. Alva McCall, Deputy Financial Secretary, who has been left in charge of the Ministry of Finance.
The 2012 Treasury Reports are now ready and must go the Auditor General to be reviewed and audited as an independent process.
Violation of the constitution?
The Auditor General is a constitutional independent post and cannot take instructions from the Financial Secretary or the Minister of Finance.
However, it’s our understanding that the Premier had asked the Office of the Auditor General to be a part of his task force, which many financial experts and constitutional scholars said is illegal.
They said the Auditor General or her office cannot be a part of any task force to assist with the government accounts or finances because their functions are to “audit the government accounts produced by the Treasury Department and inquire into and audit the financial records of Government.”
So, therefore, they would lose their independence if they are asked to sit on a task force reviewing the government's finances or the Treasury Accounts. The Audit General is also an advisory member of the House of Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee.
This is the powerful committee headed by the Opposition Leader that investigates wrongdoing and government corruption.
Once the Treasury Reports are ready they then have to proceed to the Auditor General independently to be audited, then the Financial Secretary can comment on them before they go to the House of Assembly.
NDP’s failure to manage our finances
Premier Smith and his Administration have come under fire for their failed handling of the Territory’s Finances and for their reckless spending, according to Governor John S. Duncan OBE and Opposition Leader Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1).
One Government Minister, Hon Myron V. Walwyn (AL), the Minister for Education and Culture, spent some $1.2 Million on a small wall around the Elmore Stoutt High School while staff at the state-owned community college are paid late, students are told if they do not settle their accounts they would not be allowed to take their final exams and students, teachers and parents are begging for toilet papers and teaching aids at public schools.
The Governor has humiliated the Government by imposing direct rule via the constitutional use of section 103 (b), directing how monies are to be spent for the police, and the government legal agencies, stripping the Minister of Finance, Dr Smith, of that power to determine how Government Departments are funded.
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36 Responses to “Ministry of Finance & Auditor General conflict of interest?”
Why can't who ever is doing this find their own name instead of stealing others?
It's not enough to say she is a poor choice.
I don't know. Just an observer