THE EDITOR, Sir:
A RECENT report by the Auditor General has discovered that a number of government departments and agencies employees were overpaid salaries to the staggering figure of $54 million in his report to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.
This report underscores the slip-shod, sloven manner in which the administrators of these departments and agencies lack the responsibilities of proper supervision.
Such reckless administration shows no accountability and the conduct begs the questions: (a) isn't each public employee engaged on a fixed emolument on the date of employment? (b) do payroll departments not have the pivotal role of having in their possession a schedule for payments and deductions to be made from each employee, (c) do none of these departments or agencies havetheir internal auditors periodically check the records and report their findings to their supervisor/managers concerned?
If mismanagement and slackness become the norm of the day, draconian action must be taken after an enquiry is done and anyone who is found to have turned a blind eye as to what was happening should be appropriately disciplined. I do not know if the Auditor General had made any recommendations, so I am doing so by suggesting that all recipients of the overpayment repay the government by deduction from their salaries until the repayment is completed.
The report of this nature necessitates immediate overhaul of all the public sector departments and agencies.
I am, etc.,
DAVID A. SAMMS
842 East 55th Street
Brooklyn N.Y. 11234 USA
