Editorial | Watching taxpayers’ money

We take the Government’s word for it that Jamaica’s gross debt in May was J$2.27 trillion, of which J$1.43 trillion was owed to external lenders and J$840 billion to domestic ones.

We accept, too, that the debt is on track to fall to 60 per cent of gross domestic product in 2026/27, from just over 70 per cent at present.

The Gleaner takes the administration’s word at face value, or is forced so to do, because up to several months after the end of the 2022/23 financial year, Nigel Clarke’s finance ministry had not submitted the requisite documents, known as appropriations accounts, to the auditor general (AuG) to prove when, how or under what circumstances it paid out around J$1.1 trillion voted by Parliament over the 2019/2020 to 2022/2023 fiscal years to service (interest and principal) the island’s debt.

This was not the only area where the finance ministry was delinquent with its appropriations accounts. For instance, the auditor general’s 2023 report highlights outstanding documents for J$111.34 billion in recurrent and capital allocations to the ministry between 2020/21 and 2022/23.

GRAVE CONCERN

These failures by the finance ministry are cause for grave concern on several fronts, not least being its role as the overarching manager, and chief accountability officer, of the government’s fiscal affairs. When it doesn’t abide by the rules, or doesn’t do so within the prescribed time, it creates a moral hazard, potentially creating a shield for other ministries, agencies and departments (MDAs) which fail to submit their accounts on time. The education ministry which had outstanding accounts for J$902 billion going back to 2012/13 could be one such recalcitrant body.

But just as egregious as the breakdown in accountability by the MDAs has been the lack of robust review of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by the shadow finance minister, Julian Robinson, of the auditor general’s report, which has been in the public sphere for seven months.

Hopefully, the PAC’s recent attention to the health ministry’s tardiness in producing appropriations accounts for nine fiscal years, for nearly J$700 billion in expenditure, signalled Mr Robinson’s intention to more aggressively insist on compliance with accountability rules set out in the Financial Administration and Audit Act (FAAA).

In the past Mr Robinson has suggested a difficulty in corralling government members of the PAC for meetings. But that, to this newspaper, is an insufficient excuse for the committee’s failure to do more. If, indeed, government members of the committee shy away from certain of its sessions, Mr Robinson has a bully pulpit from which to raise the decibels in calling them out, as does Mikael Phillips, the chair of the Publication Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC). The PAAC has the advantage of being able to track the activities of MDAs on an ongoing basis.

Further, given his declared commitment to fiscal responsibility and in ensuring that taxpayers’ money is spent efficiently, and without ‘leakages’, Dr Clarke has, or should have, an interest in effective and robust oversight of MDAs by these committees.

Indeed, he should be comfortable that any collateral embarrassment to the Government because of their hearings and investigations is a small price to pay for enhanced accountability and improved management of public resources. That translates, ultimately, to better value for taxpayers’ dollars.

CONDUCT REVIEWS

Which is why Dr Clarke should not only encourage the work of the PAC and the PAAC. He should perhaps invite the PAC to conduct reviews of the AuG’s findings with respect to his own ministry. Indeed, Dr Clarke should see this as an opportunity for an accountability reset and enhanced public sector transparency.

In that regard, and in preparation for the PAC hearings, Dr Clarke should cause his ministry to prepare in-depth analyses of the status for the delayed appropriations accounts, the reasons for their lag, and the impact, if any, these failures have had on the fiscal regime.

Put another way, the financial secretary, Darlene Morrison, should appear before the PAC with a spirit of frankness and without the hubris that marked those of Dunstan Bryan, the permanent secretary in the health ministry. Wiggling and contortions won’t help. Indeed, Minister Clarke might himself send the signal of a reset by himself appearing before the PAC on the matter.

Similarly, Kasan Troupe, the permanent secretary in the education ministry, should appear before the PAC to account frankly for that ministry’s outstanding appropriations account and the several weaknesses in its internal oversight highlighted by the auditor general at several of its agencies and departments.

The potential value of this approach would be a reset of the relationship between the executive and the legislature, with the latter, through its committee, performing legitimate, and effective, oversight of the former.

Indeed, Parliament’s exercises its oversight responsibilities best through its committees, which are less likely than sessions of the full legislature, to be infused with partisan adrenaline, largely eliciting Pied Piper endorsements rather than thoughtful engagement. In that respect, serious, robust reviews by committees shouldn’t be resisted as attacks on government, but be seen as aimed at protecting national resources, which belong to all Jamaicans.