– writes President Granger to intervene

CHAIRMAN of the Local Government Commission (LGC), Mortimer Mingo, on Friday said that the commission was “effectively shut down”, and he had written President David Granger requesting his intervention in the current financial situation, whereby salaries of staff and other operational expenses have not been paid since the beginning of the year.
Such was the declaration of Mingo at a press conference held at the commission’s Eping Avenue headquarters. He added that the commission has had its cellphone services cut just moments before the conference, and the fate of its other utilities and even rent remains uncertain.

The eight commissioners and 27 administrative staff members have not been paid since December 14, 2018.

The LGC is in an impasse with the Ministry of Communities (MoC) over the signing over of monies to the LGC for payment of the salaries and other expenditures.
“The LGC… operations are effectively shut down by virtue of the refusal of the Permanent Secretary of the MoC to countersign the documents that would allow for finances to be released to the constitutional body,” Mingo read from a prepared statement.

“The LGC has exhausted all avenues to address this matter through the proper channels. The 27 employees of the commission have been required to work for the past two months with no pay and essential services have not been paid for and just an hour ago, our telecommunication via cellphone has been disconnected for want of payment of the bill.”
The LGC is supposed to be a constitutional agency with financial independence. However, it has not yet been placed on the country’s constitutional agency register; as such, it still falls somewhat within regulations of the MoC.

It is somewhat unclear which authority is responsible for getting the commission on the constitutional agency register. The LGC said it should be the MoC that needs to initiate the process. Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, however referred questions to the Attorney General (AG). AG Basil Williams, on the other hand, felt that it could be an issue for the Ministry of Finance to address.

After requesting some $305 million in its 2019 budget submission last year, the LGC was allocated a 2019 subvention under the MoC, of $137 million, with $124 million for current expenditure and $13 million for capital expenditure.

The MoC is contending that the LGC current expenditure is above the amount allocated in its 2019 budgetary allocation, and therefore the budgeted money will not be enough to cover current expenditures from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2019 — a violation of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMAA) Act which governs spending at the ministry.

The MoC says that the LGC has to submit a 2019 budget that fits the $137 million allocation before the MoC can release any money to the commission. The MoC is also questioning salaries at the commission, claiming that salaries make up some $113.560 million or 91.4 percent of the commission’s annual budget.

MoC wrote the LGC in January informing that “emoluments to staff exceed that of public service levels by amounts ranging $26,000 at Grade Two and $441,219 at Grade Nine.” Questions pertaining to payment of the commissioners noted that “emoluments to the commissioners also exceed levels approved by the ministry of Finance by 58 to 150 percent.”

Mingo was reluctant to disclose what the salary ranges for the staff or commissioners were. He however disputed that salaries accounted for 91.4 percent of the commission’s budget. He stated that, according to the LGC accounts , salaries were 54 percent of the allocated budget.

Additionally, Mingo explained that the commission made several cuts, and sent in its revised budget since February 7, which was within the limits of the money allocated. Mingo said the budget cuts included the removal of 2019 salary increases for the commissioners.

“A decision was taken to remove the adjusted emoluments and restore the previous payments for the commissioners, while the salary request for the staff was re-submitted,” Mingo said.

Mingo stressed that the staff was suffering because of the impasse, and as such, the commission had written to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of the Presidency, and President David Granger himself to see what intervention could be offered to resolve the issue.

“We have decided we are going to see what level of intervention he [the President] will give in the coming days. We are concerned that another pay period is coming and there’s no indication that the staff would be paid,” Mingo explained.