No disrespect - Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture apologises to PAC for no-show

Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament were left fuming yesterday after officials of the Olivia 'Babsy' Grange-led Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture failed to show for a scheduled grilling.

But in a late-afternoon response, the ministry said its no-show was related to a breakdown in communication and an erroneous report that the meeting had been shifted to this morning.

"It is unfortunate that the accounting officer and the leadership of cultural agencies were absent.

"They were all set and ready to attend. Indeed, a few members had arrived at Gordon House when they received news, in error, that the meeting had been rescheduled to Wednesday, 8 December 2010," Oliver Watt, communication director at the ministry, told The Gleaner.

"The leadership of the ministry and the cultural agencies meant no disrespect to the Public Accounts Committee and apologises unreservedly to the committee," Watt added.

Pac fuming

His apology came after PAC members fumed at what they described as a snub by officials of the youth, sports and culture ministry.

The ministry officials were slated to face the PAC to answer questions about several questionable activities identified in its accounts by the auditor general.

These include $19 million reportedly spent without proper explanation by the Social Develop-ment Commission, which falls under the ministry.

When the Dr Omar Davies-led PAC was ready to grill officials of the ministry shortly after midday yesterday, they were nowhere to be found.

"The minister (Grange) called me on the weekend and indicated that she doesn't have a permanent secretary at the moment, she has an acting permanent secretary, and she and the permanent secretary are to travel so can I cancel it? I told her no, and she should send the next in line, the accounting officer," Davies told the committee.

He added: "It is one thing for the officers to come unprepared but it is another thing for them not to show."

Deemed disrespect

That was to spark a flurry of comments from members of the PAC, who were angry at what they deemed a sign of disrespect for the committee, the representatives of the Attorney General's Department, officials of the Ministry of Finance and others present in the chamber.

Everald Warmington, member of parliament for South West St Catherine, was not amused.

"This shows the type of disrespect that is constantly shown to this committee. We either have public officers come here unprepared or come here to mislead this committee, or they don't show up at all, and I'm saying there must be some strong sanctions placed on these accounting officers," argued Warmington.

"This song and dance that we keep doing, and when persons are not held accountable ... I have a serious problem because we keep rubber-stamping ministries that are not performing, and you are going to have a situation where $19 million cannot be accounted for in the ministry under the SDC and we don't know anything," committee member Lisa Hanna said.

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture is now being marshalled by acting Permanent Secretary Sydney Bartley, since the recent resignation of Maria Jones.