IT APPEARS that the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has failed for two consecutive years to turn over financial statements and accounting records to the Auditor-General in breach of the Public Bodies Accountability Act which governs the fiscal behaviour of state agencies. The Contractor-General and the Internal Audit Department have been brought in to help sort out the mess which seemingly includes rampant cronyism. It is also reported that the agency is some $200 million in debt.
The agency has its own board of directors which would have general responsibility for its operation, specific accountability for correct corporate governance resting with its executive chairman, Mr. Alston Stewart.
From the outset of its establishment, the NSWMA has been plagued by administrative problems coloured by partisan considerations. So there really should not be any surprise at what is now unfolding. It is par for the course in the general administration of public funds over the past decade.
Mrs. Simpson Miller, under whose ministerial portfolio the NSWMA falls, has called for an investigation. Mr. Patterson is reported to have told her that as minister, she is expected to deal with her ministry. Assuming the report to be accurate and on the basis of consistency, it is unfortunate that the same guidance was not apparently given to Minister Paulwell when his IT plans went awry.
So, amid the serious problems at the NSWMA, PNP insiders who do not wish to be named in news reports have been harping on their magnitude. In the run-up to the leadership race in the PNP, we can expect matters of national importance to be increasingly coloured by intra-party sniping and self-serving pronouncements.
Regardless of party infighting, this is yet another scandal in the making involving public funds. How many more can we take? Why, we are obliged to ask, must the nation continue to be plagued by such lack of accountability for public funds and breaches of public trust?
Mrs. Simpson Miller may have specific ministerial responsibility, but the buck ultimately stops in the Prime Minister's Office, if for no other reason than this problem is rife throughout agencies of his Cabinet ministers. He must lead the charge in cleaning up the mess. If not, all the talk about values and attitudes and respect for the rule of law and proper procedures will be just that, a lot of talk, nothing more. Good governance in the country is thereby undermined.
It is imperative that the probe called for by the Ministry of Local Government be speedily dealt with and the public informed as to the finding. In the meantime, the government led by the Prime Minister must move to ensure that the Auditor-General's concerns are addressed, and there not be the annual recurrence of the same lapses in financial management.
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