Two glaring issues highlighted in the 2021 Auditor General’s Report have still not been addressed by Government, the local watchdog group Integrity Group Barbados (IGB) has noted.
Chairman Andy Armstrong said neither the Auditor General’s request for more staff nor his concern about the absence of a functioning Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was mentioned in the Government’s response which was laid in Parliament last Thursday.
In a telephone interview with Barbados TODAY, Armstrong pointed to Auditor General Leigh Trotman’s complaint about a lack of staff in his department, which was affecting their ability to execute their duties effectively and efficiently.
However, the IGB head highlighted that Government’s 64-page response, which was prepared by Director of Finance and Economic Affairs Ian Carrington and gave detailed answers to several other issues, failed to deal with that particular concern.
“We still don’t seem to have, as a country, a solution as to how we are going to get more qualified persons in the Auditor General’s department,” Armstrong said.
“He did allude to the fact that it was particularly difficult to get people in management positions, so it is something that we really need to figure out – how we are going to properly resource this department.”
In his report, Trotman highlighted that since there is no Leader of the Opposition to serve as PAC chairman, uncertainty remains about how the committee can function.
Stressing that the PAC performs an important oversight role which should not be stymied because of the current situation, he suggested as a solution, an amendment to the PAC Act to allow one of the Independent Senators to chair meetings in the absence of a Leader of the Opposition.
Armstrong, who in a previous interview had supported the recommendation in principle, lamented that no solutions were put forward by the Government.
“I . . . know independent Senators are not particularly well remunerated so you might be asking a lot for an independent Senator to take on that burden. But we do agree that we need to have a functioning PAC and, unfortunately, how it is set up over many years and over many administrations, that PAC is rarely functioning very well.
“So I think there needs to be a very major rethink of how we respond to the Auditor General’s Report,” he said.
Although not addressing the PAC issue, the Mia Mottley administration’s response to Trotman’s report spoke to the planned establishment of an Internal Audit Department (IAD).
It said the IAD, which should be in place within the next fiscal year 2023/2024, will increase public confidence in the management of the country’s financial affairs.
While Armstrong said he was not opposed to that move, he expressed hope that it should not be set up to undermine the Office of the Auditor General.
“I think that needs to be thought through more . . . I’m not saying it is reality but there is a perception that by setting up your own Internal Audit Department you might be seeking to weaken the power of the Auditor General.
“Of course, if it’s your own department then you have a better control over them and you may be able to keep a lot of the problems or issues private. I hope that it is not the intention to hide things from the public. So we would really have to have a little more discussion about whether that really is the best solution,” Armstrong asserted.
