REOs to look at ‘worrying’ sections of Auditor General’s report

AMONG top issues to be discussed at meetings with officials from the Local Government Ministry and various Regional Executives Officers (REOs), today and tomorrow, is the Auditor General’s Report for 2010 which contains information that is ‘worrying’ to the ministry. This was disclosed yesterday at a press conference hosted by Ministers Ganga Persaud and Norman Whittaker, and Permanent Secretary Collin Croal at the ministry in Kingston.
These meetings are now a monthly feature as the ministry interacts with regional officials. Matters to be discussed include budgetary and administrative issues. This time around, however, the focus will be on the report recently laid in parliament.
“We have seen a number of things there that cause us to be worried. So we will be discussing the report extensively,” Croal said.
According to Minister Persaud, the ministry is concerned about issues in the report such as over-payment, delays in the completion of certain capital works, and instances in which log books were not properly maintained.
“Discussions on the Auditor General’s Report will seek to focus not only on why or how these occurrences were recorded, but how we can set up systems and put measures in place so as to avoid a recurrence of some of the issues documented in the report,” Persaud said.
Meanwhile, Croal announced that there will be a meeting this morning with Regional Health Officers and the REOs. The Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, Persaud and Whittaker will be at the meeting.
The meeting will finalise a framework to ensure that there is closer collaboration with the Regional Health Officers.
“For too long we have had a number of issues that are popping up. For example, we have issues of health workers coming out of the region without the ministry being informed,” Croal said.
Other issues will include the use of expired drugs and the shortage of drugs at health institutions.
A similar meeting will be held in April with the Regional Education Officers.

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