Augustine slams PNM response to auditor general: 'Pure rubbish'

Progressive Democratic Patriots' deputy political leader Farley Augustine has described Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis’ explanation about the discrepancies identified in an Auditor General’s report as "pure rubbish."

The Auditor General's report, which covered the period October 2019 to September 2020, expressed concerns about the Tobago House of Assembly's handling of covid19 relief, particularly food card/vouchers and rental assistance programmes.

Dennis responded to the report in a lengthy statement on Monday night.

He said while there are areas for improvement, “I saw nothing in this report which suggests illegal or corrupt activity.

“All we have set out to do is to bring relief to all affected persons in Tobago in a timely manner.”

But Dennis admitted there is need for training of the THA’s management and staff to prevent a repeat of procedural and accounting errors “that have surfaced in this report and previous ones.”

In a statement posted on his Facebook page on Monday, Augustine, who has called for the discrepancies to be thoroughly investigated, said, “That entire press release of response is pure rubbish and excuses for not adhering to the financial regulations and the mandates of the auditor general’s office. It is always an excuse for them.”

He added: “Report after report from the auditor general’s office is damning and all we get are excuses.”

Augustine, who is the representative for Speyside/Parlatuvier/L’Anse Fourmi, complained that the PDP’s assemblymen were never offered emergency social assistance cards to help the vulnerable in their respective electoral districts.

“Were the PDP assemblymen offered any of these social emergency cards? The answer is no.

“Therefore, the act of decentralising the operation is just rubbish. They decentralised it to include party hacks but not all 12 assemblymen.”

Augustine also scoffed at Dennis’ claims that all of the THA’s records regarding the various covid19 relief initiatives were accounted for.

“He claimed that they have all of these records, but why they were not presented for audit?”

He said Dennis must understand that the THA cannot spend money as it wants without process and oversight.

“There are regulations guiding these things. It is not for politicians to decide when and how to obey them.”