3 months ago
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The Joint Public Accounts Committee (JPAC) of the National Assembly convened in Belmopan today to examine the Auditor General’s Report for the fiscal years 2015–2016. Chairperson of the Committee, Senator Lee Mark Chang, opened the session by outlining the purpose of the JPAC which is to provide parliamentary oversight on government spending and ensure transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.
The proceedings began with the Clerk of the National Assembly administering the oath to all participating members, formalizing the start of deliberations. Chang then invited Auditor General Maria Rodriguez to deliver her official presentation to the Committee. Using a PowerPoint presentation, Rodriguez provided an overview of the current state of the Auditor General’s Office, highlighting key issues of institutional independence, staffing shortages, and resource constraints. She emphasized the urgent need to finalize the Auditor General Bill, which was first introduced in 2022, stating that its passage would strengthen the autonomy and efficiency of her office.
Rodriguez also gave insight into how and when her department conducts individual departmental audits, explaining that these are carried out systematically based on annual work plans and available manpower. She further clarified that the Auditor General’s Office is not obligated to release reports directly to the media, as such disclosures should properly come through the JPAC, which functions as the primary oversight body. Following her detailed presentation, Chairman Chang opened the floor for questions. Minister Kareem Musa sought advice from Rodriguez on how her office could be facilitated when it comes to the hiring of persons.
Maria Rodriguez, Auditor General: “When it comes to the hiring of junior clerks we have layers. We have audit clerks, we have examiners, and we have supervisors. In the case of audit clerks we do not have a say on who comes as audit clerks. So I will find having clerks coming in with different degrees other than accounting and it takes a bit more time to train someone who doesn’t have the accounting background. I must say though that when it comes to this middle management level and upward, the more technical aspect we do enjoy the support of the Minister of the Public Service to be part of the shortlisting and interview panel. We cannot agree on pay scale and salaries, they do that part but there are people that come with significant experience in the private sector and we cannot do nothing about that, they have to come in at the lower point because that’s what the regulation says. So we have no say in that. But I do have a concern with the hiring of our junior staff because it takes time to train them, it takes time to get them on board on what is the accounting that we do and the auditing that we do. But let me add that I know this for a fact for years. I’ve been in the office for 25 years. So what I did is to communicate with the national university and seek an external certification for my staff on auditing. And so even to solve that issue, since we do not have any participation with the hiring of the junior clerks, we are now off having this certification for everyone who comes in so that they can gain the experience and remove that training from our hands and they go online and get the training with the University of Belize.”
One key piece of information shared by Rodriguez was the difficulty in accessing information from the governmental departments. She noted that the guidelines of record keeping are available to every ministry, but they are not being adhered to.
Maria Rodriguez, Auditor General: “They don’t maintain records. They don’t have sufficient storage to put the records in. So that’s when the problem starts to happen. Because the records are there for years, we have not been able to reach them. So at some point, I think you saw in the news, someone went ahead and just burned records without proper authority. I add that I made a request on the matter asking what happened, and they agreed that they did not follow protocol. But it is very important. There is a section in the financial orders that says that these accounting officers need to keep their records for seven to 20 years, specifically 655 of the Financial orders. So, if they’re not doing it, they’re failing to do so. So highlighting to this committee that the records are not available is a huge finding. That’s a huge finding for us. They should keep their records regardless of the timeframe. That’s a big problem. It is a big problem.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs: “ What is the current consequence of destruction of records, purposefully destroying records? What’s the consequence?
Maria Rodriguez, Auditor General: “It should come to the JPAC for your surcharging.”
Present at today’s sitting of the JPAC were Senators Godwin Haylock, Kevin Herrera, Janelle Chanona and Ministers Dolores Balderamos Garcia and Kareem Musa.
English (US) ·