Ministry of Communication & Works under scrutiny
The Honourable Financial Secretary (F.S.), John Skerritt, said the “new procurement regulations are much tougher than what currently exists”, while providing for more transparency and accountability by accounting officers.
The FS informed that Franklyn “Algie” Greaves has been appointed as a procurement officer to work along with the internal auditor Alfred Ryan to identify procurement problems and systematically address them across the government service.
He added: ”we will have a new procurement regulation which is much tougher than the one that are currently exist, what we’re hoping to do from this investigation is to get a baseline of what the problems are with every ministry department…what we will do is develop a strategy o help the ministries and department address those problems.”
“From this investigation we want to get a baseline of what the problems are in every ministry and department to answer these three things. (1) Inventories that we are holding; (2) The procurement practices of the ministry; and, (3) develop a strategy for ministries and departments to address problems,” Skerritt explained.
His Excellency the Governor Adrian Davis at his four-weekly press conference on March 21, confirmed that there is an investigation into procurement irregularities in the Ministry of Communications & Works. Other sources advised that a Permanent Secretary is at the centre of the investigations.
Meanwhile, F.S. Skerritt said they were, “examining a number of transactions and seeking explanations from the ministry. We are hoping for a good outcome.”
