By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

SIMMERING TENSIONS between the Jamaica Fire Brigade and the Ministry of Finance boiled over yesterday in Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when the accounts of the brigade were examined.

Under questioning by the PAC, Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, Major George Benson, argued strongly in defence of the fire service's spending to keep going what he insisted were inescapable operations.

The Finance Ministry representative retorted, equally strongly, that he should, irrespective of his views, stick to the guidelines laid down for expenditure.

Tensions rose when Kathryn Thompson, senior director, Public Expenditure Policy Correlation in the Finance Ministry, charged that "the fire brigade pays no attention to the approved budget."

NEW RECRUITS

In support of that assertion, she told the committee that, only recently ­ during the current financial year ­ the brigade hired 107 new recruits "without any prior approval from the Ministry of Finance for funds to pay them."

In order to pay these additional fire personnel, she claimed that the brigade held on to the funds required for payment of statutory deductions.

This, she charged, had become a regular practice in the fire brigade "to recruit firemen suddenly without any prior approval."

Robert Martin, deputy financial secretary, in support of Miss Thompson's assertion, told the PAC that, while there is a programme to train recruits for the fire service, the fire brigade has been going ahead with its recruitment and training programme without making any request for funding from the Finance Ministry.

"I'm not crazy!" retorted Major Benson, countering that he routinely requested funding for the recruitment of new personnel each year.

He told the PAC that the fire brigade now has a complement of about 1,500 uniformed personnel, from an allowed of 2,000.

The fire brigade was also cited by Miss Thompson for paying travelling allowances to some officers whom she claimed were not entitled to such allowances.

Major Benson denied "categorically" that those receiving travelling allowances were not entitled to this compensation.

Jackie Robinson, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, confirmed that there were accumulated arrears of over $400 million in statutory deductions at the fire brigade, which the Ministry was working with the relevant Government agencies to clear.