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by pltm
(PLTM) - Governor John Duncan has instructed the Financial Secretary and Accountant General to provide clarity over what funds have been authorised, by whom and the current state of disbursements for internal security, covering both the police force and legal services.
“This lack of transparency is not conducive to proper accounting, accountability or operational effectiveness,” Governor Duncan told reporters at a press conference on Friday afternoon, March 24.
To this end, today Governor Duncan issued the formal warrant to give effect to this decision and instructed the Financial Secretary and the Accountant General to now proceed as instructed by the warrant.
“The whole figure concerned for internal security is $1.88M. Now some of that has not been budgeted for, but the Financial Secretary has not been able to tell us how much has not been budgeted for,” Governor Duncan explained.
He added, “I have asked him [Financial Secretary] and the Accountant General to give us (Governor and Premier Hon. Dr. D. Orlando Smith) in a relatively short space of time, a complete rationalization, reconciliation of all those decisions and what money is where; has that money come out of the budget 2016/2017, is there a shortfall, how much is the shortfall, put that shortfall into the consolidated fund.”
Governor Duncan recently invoked his powers under Section 103 of the Virgin Islands Constitution to address the shortfall in approved funding under the BVI 2017 budget and thus confront the impact on the RVIPF capabilities and the consequent reduction in the force’s ability to tackle criminality in the Territory; and to meet the costs of and ensure disbursement of funds required to prosecute two major cases (interdicted cops and extradition hearing).
Governor Duncan told reporters that the Financial Secretary wrote to them this week, setting out his understanding of the existing authorisations and approvals in relation to the five heads concerned by this decision---the RVIPF, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Magistrate and Supreme Courts.
However, Governor Duncan said that the memo served to underline the lack of clarity over what funds have been authorised, by whom, and other points.
“In order to address this, I have set out in the second schedule to the warrant, a complete overview of the funding authorised and governed by the warrant, as well as the purposes for which these funds are required.”
He explained that the second schedule is independent of and separate from any approvals provided under the 2017 budgetary process, or those currently underway in the Supplementary Additional Provision (SAP).
“Disbursement of funds already authorized should be honoured and if cited under this warrant, will now be subject to the reports required under the warrant. The total funding covered by the warrant issued today is for $1.88 million.”
I'm Not Authorizing $1.8M From CF
“In simple terms, there is a lack of clarity as to what has been approved, what monies remain in the budget and who has approved it---whether it has been approved by the SAP, budget estimates, or where it has been approved. And the memo from the Financial Secretary sets out clearly that clarity is missing, and therefore to say that I have authorized $1.8M from the Consolidated Fund is inaccurate.”
He added, “That is not what I am doing. What I am doing is making sure that $1.8M which is required for the police operating and for the legal services to carry out two particular cases that we have before us, is properly accounted for, is properly authorized, is properly disbursed quickly.”
Governor Duncan said that although the warrant covers a large amount of expenditure, some of that expenditure has already been authorized.
“What I am doing is making sure that they are properly authorized and disbursed...So there is a reporting mechanism in the warrant which says you will report to Premier and Governor on the disbursement, so that we don’t have these constant delays which led to monies being frozen last year.”
He said, “And neither the legal officers nor the RVIPF were able to access that money, and we really cannot continue like that.”
The Governor also lamented that it appears when the National Security Council agrees on a matter, certain things are not being followed through.
“There are two lines of advice---one goes to me and Premier. I take the decisions on policy and Premier takes the one on finances. It is not clear that process has happened...Some of the things the NSC said, these are things that need to be done...It is not clear where the approval came. There should have been subsequent approvals; it is not clear where those are.”
He said that in order to clarify the latter, a line needs to be drawn under the confusion.
“...All those decisions by the NSC over the past year are now covered by this warrant and I hope that all of them have been properly approved, but rather than going on all other details to find out where the approvals got too...”
Governor Duncan reiterated that it is the responsibility of the Financial Secretary and the Accountant General to advise him and the Premier on the exact draw down required from the consolidated fund, and to ensure that any existing approvals under the 2017 budgetary process, or those currently underway in the Supplementary Additional Provision (SAP) are reconciled with the Governor’s warrant, so as to achieve the purposes for which the warrant was issued.
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