Minority Leader and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Kelvon Morris, has requested the urgent convening of a PAC hearing to review the 2024 Report of the Auditor General on the accounts of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). More in this Elizabeth Williams report.
00:00The Minority Leader, Kelvin Morris, said the Auditor General's findings include a range of troubling financial discrepancies, including an unaccounted sum of approximately $17 million in checks that were issued but not presented or reflected in the accounting records, raising serious concerns about financial oversight, internal controls, and public money management within the THE.
00:27Mr. Morris emphasized that while the committee has met periodically for planning, it has not been able to carry out any formal investigations or public hearings during this term, thus limiting its ability to scrutinize spending and promote accountability.
00:45The PAC is the only internal mechanism of the Assembly with the authority to monitor the stewardship of public funds.
00:55For too long, the oversight function has been dormant and the result is a growing crisis of accountability, Morris said.
01:03He further noted that the release of the Auditor General's report presents a critical opportunity to finally initiate long-overdue scrutiny, not only of the specific issues highlighted in the report, but of the wider trends in financial governance under the current administration.
01:22This moment cannot be allowed to pass.
01:29The people of Tobago deserve transparency, honesty, and responsible management of their money, he added.
01:36Mr. Morris reaffirmed his commitment to keeping the public informed and pledged to advocate for full and fair hearings where departmental heads and accounting officers can be held to account.
01:49And as the island prepares for upcoming elections, Morris encouraged citizens to take note of what he termed the continued lack of transparency and the deep disregard for public financial management that has come to characterize the current THA.
02:06Accountability should never be an afterthought.
02:09It must be the foundation of governance.
02:12That's the standard the people of Tobago deserve.
02:14And that's the standard I will continue to fight for.
02:17Chief Secretary Fali Augustin, in previously responding to TV6's questions on the Auditor General's report, said he could not understand why some documents were not uploaded, and he said the issues of traveling discrepancies linked to the Division of Tourism are being investigated.
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