‘WOEFULLY INCOMPETENT’

SAN Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation chairman Anthony Roberts has slammed senior staff of the corporation’s accounting department, headed by a woman who only has CXC O’level passes.

He described the staffers as “woefully incompetent” as he spoke at a Joint Select Committee meeting with the Local Government Ministry and four regional corporations yesterday at the Parliament building, Port of Spain.

JSC member Ramona Ramdial said the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation’s submissions said an acting accountant II heads the accounting department and has obtained qualifications from CXC. Ramdial asked how long the individual was with the corporation and whether the individual received additional training in accounting practices.

Corporation CEO Dianne Lakhan said the individual in question took up the position on July 27, 2017, has no formal training and “we are really having a challenge with that, in the absence of a financial officer.”

She said moving forward, the corporation will write to the Local Government Ministry to get a more qualified accountant, “Because the situation at San Juan, we really need help in that department.” Local Government Permanent Secretary Jennifer Daniel said advertisements for the position of financial officer are in the newspaper.

“But I want to say that accountant officers in the public service, while they may have entered the system with five O-levels, they would have had a considerable amount of work experience in terms of public service accounting system. So I don’t want the impression to be given that is just a five-O-levels person who doesn’t know anything about public service accounts. Far from it,” Daniel said.

Daniel said the individual is a public officer who was assigned to the corporation. Roberts responded, in his closing comments: “I just want to put on the record, notwithstanding the comments of our permanent secretary, that the senior staff at our accounting department is woefully incompetent. And as a result it is frightening.”

Also at the meeting, Diego Martin Regional Corporation CEO Shivastri Ramawadh said water seepage had damaged a number of records, including regulations on the custody of money, passbooks and cheques. She reported the last audited financial statements were from 2008, but 2012 to 2018 had been completed in draft and the National Library and Information Systems was assisting in restoring documents, which should take approximately four months.

Corporation financial assistant Ken Calliste said a financial officer was contracted in May last year.

Roberts said his corporation does not have a financial officer “and we don’t have any capable staff to deal with the accounts of the organisation.”

Penal/Debe Regional Corporation CEO Motilal Ramsingh said the corporation did not have a financial officer and the last one resigned last November. Siparia Regional Corporation chairman Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh said his corporation has a financial officer. Ramadharsingh also commented that untimely releases affect the heart of the corporation’s operations and when calls are made for emergency services, providers are hesitant to respond.

“We really need the Ministry of Finance to step up the plate and service local government in a much more timely and efficient manner.”

Penal/Debe Regional Corporation chairman Dr Allen Sammy expressed concern over local government reform and whether the corporations will be able to handle the additional financial burdens.

“The current burdens are overwhelming as it is.”