Thursday, October 12 2006

JUNIOR FINANCE Minister Conrad Enill yesterday said St Joseph MP Gerald Yetming was wrong to say there is no transparency in the public sector projects which are being undertaken by the Government. Yetming made this allegation during the Budget debate in the House of Representatives on Monday night.

Addressing a news conference at the Eric Williams Financial Complex in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Enill said under the former UNC regime, there was a system where every contract over $500 million had to be approved by the Ministry of Finance. He explained that since coming into office in 2002, the PNM has implemented a system which ensures greater transparency and accountability.

“We have taken a different approach. First thing we have done is that we have put out a procurement policy that we have approved that basically all of the companies must follow that procurement policy,” the Minister said. Enill added that a new and enhanced public procurement policy (which will cover all government ministries, regional health authorities and other public bodies) will soon be enacted by Government.

Enill said the a central audit team was established within the Finance Ministry to “go out and determine on an ongoing basis how contracts are being dealt with and whether or not they follow the procurement proceedure.”

The Minister said the composition of the special purpose companies (formed to assist government ministries in the execution of public sector projects) ensures that they fall under the jurisdiction of the Integrity Commission. “Therefore the Integrity Commission will deal with directors who in some form or fashion, cannot explain their issues,” Enill stated. Furthermore, Enill said company directors’ responsibilities and fiduciary duties are clearly spelt out under the Companies Ordinance, along with the penalties they face if they stray from the straight and narrow.

“On basis of those new arrangements in place therefore, we did not see it necessary, in spite of all of that, to have every single contract for $500 million come back to Ministry of Finance. We are doing it differently. We are doing it on the basis of a system and we are doing it proactively,” Enill declared. He added that this system ensures that anyone at anytime can challenge it to ensure that the process is fair.

Enill said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) accepted Government’s rationale for forming special purpose companies because of the length of time required to reform the public service.