TAXPAYERS HAD to foot about $3.3 million in rent for three families displaced by the construction of the Ocho Rios bypass because of Government's failure to finalise agreements for relocating the owners of lands in the area.
And it could cause taxpayers a tidy sum more unless the Ministry of Transport and Works take steps to settle the matter before at least one of the families take the matter to court.
The revelation is contained the report of Auditor-General Adrian Strachan that was tabled in Parliament last month.
Mr. Strachan said there was evidence of pending litigation as a lawyer for one of the families has written the Ministry about finalising the agreement. "The Ministry was advised to have the matter settled as soon as possible to contain the relocation costs," the Auditor-General said.
The audit of the Ministry also disclosed that no statutory deductions were made from remuneration totalling more than $5 million to a consultant engaged to act as a senior adviser/co-ordinator to the Minister during 1999/2000 and 2000/2001. The consultant, who was also assigned a fully maintained motor vehicle, was also not taxed for its partial private use, resulting in loss of revenue.
A test check of the Port Authority of Jamaica, an agency of the Ministry of Transport and Works, revealed that there was no required Cabinet approval for a $21 million contract that was awarded to a consultancy company, which Mr. Strachan did not name.
In addition, there was no evidence that the award of a $12 million consultancy and works contract was done on a competitive basis as required by the directives of the Ministry of Finance and Planning.
The Port Authority was also in breach of the Ministry of Finance guidelines when it advanced gratuity payment of $500,000 to an officer after just a month's service rather than at the expiration of the three year contract period. "This represented the premature disbursement of public funds which could expose the Government to loss," the Auditor-General said.
Noting that the Port Authority's paid $1 million to an individual for legal services, Mr. Strachan said: "I was, however, unable to determine how this figure was arrived at as the relevant documentation was not presented for audit."
The Auditor-General said the Ministry of Finance approval was also not seen for excessive per diem allowance paid for an officer's overseas trip.
Questionable expenses on overseas travel also featured in the audit of the Electoral Office of Jamaica. The report said the records showed that on six occasions economy class tickets sent by overseas organisations to the Electoral Office for foreign travel to observe elections in other countries were upgraded to first class. Mr. Strachan said it cost taxpayers just over $354,000 to upgrade the tickets, and "I was not satisfied that this represented justifiable and economic use of public funds."
Another unsatisfactory feature of the audit of the Electoral Office was that more than $540,000 was disbursed for activities related to staff functions, a sum that "far exceeded the amount per member of staff approved by the Ministry of Finance."
An audit of the Health Sector Reform Programme, although found to be mostly satisfactory according to Mr. Strachan, revealed that US$710,147 (about J$33.7 million) received as benefit-in-kind was not paid into the Consolidated Fund as required by law. Mr. Strachan did not say to where the money was channelled, but said it resulted in the understatement of Government's revenues and expenditure.
The Health Sector Reform Programme is jointly funded by the Government of Jamaica and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It is aimed at providing support for the Jamaican Government in implementing reforms which seek to improve the efficiency, equity and quality of health care and to foster the financial sustainability of the sector.
