By Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterAUDLEY SHAW, the Opposition Spokesman on Finance, charged yesterday that a shortfall in the budgetary allocation to the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) last year resulted in the occasional suspension of firefighters' health insurance.
According to Mr. Shaw, the suspension of the health insurance scheme was due to arrears in the payment of monthly premiums, as the JFB received a paltry $13.75 million, which he said was 20 per cent of the approved $70 million for the department in the 2003/2004 capital budget.
"Most recently, it was suspended for three months from November 2003 to January 2004," Shaw told the House of Representatives during his contribution to the 2004/2005 Budget Debate at Gordon House.
Mr. Shaw painted a dismal picture of the state of the fire service then later called on Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies to intervene to stem the crisis. He renewed the call first made two weeks ago during the meeting of the Standing Finance Committee when he slammed the Government for neglecting the fire service.
Said Shaw: "The Finance Minister must bring a motion to Parliament before the closure of this Budget Debate, to increase the subvention of the Fire Brigade for this fiscal year to $637 million. So we can pay our firefighters, restore their insurance policies, repair trucks... and purchase the equipment necessary to improve the fire service."
Mr. Shaw, titling his contribution, 'Wanted: Good Governance for the People', also blasted Dr. Davies for what he said was the Minister's statements that problems within the fire service were due to mismanagement.
He cited a report the Ministry of Finance conducted on the JFB's accounting system, which showed that a proper procurement procedure existed, there was no evidence of waste and extravagance, the Fire Department's manual accounting records were current, and that the only major item in the Auditor-General's report was the unpaid statutory deductions of $551 million.
Two weeks ago, Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller, told the Standing Finance Committee that some $300 million more was needed to operate the fire service at the existing levels of staff complement, and that another $337 million was also needed to repair fire trucks, fire stations and acquire firefighting equipment.
Yesterday, Mr. Shaw referred to a JFB/Ministry of Finance probe which showed the department being under-funded while having $614 million in outstanding bills as at October 2003.
The report showed the following:
The Department was unable to meet its monthly obligations on the present subvention, and the current situation if allowed to continue will lead to more serious crisis.
The situation would worsen after the graduation of 107 recruits in December 2003 as the payroll would be increased by $4.8 million monthly and other costs such as health insurance will also increase
According to Mr. Shaw, the report also stated that in addition to the provision of funds to clear the existing indebtedness of the department, funds were required to maintain hydrants, fire stations and fire engines, and also purchase firefighting equipment.
The report, he said, also noted that over the years the financing of the fire service from the Consolidated Fund through the warrant process had been a problem, and that alternative funding sources needed to be explored.
"Enough is enough," Mr. Shaw warned. "Let us cut out the deception and hypocrisy and provide a decent fire service for the taxpayers of this country."
