Letter of the Day | Billion-dollar lessons Jamaica cannot ignore

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Last Thursday, an operation was conducted by the Major Organised & Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) at the offices of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation, which was part of an investigation into “multiple fraud schemes that were used over several years to bleed nearly $1 billion from the coffers of the municipal corporation”.

This development illustrates well the importance of public entities submitting the legally mandated, annual financial reports to Jamaica’s auditor general. In a media round-table forum hosted December 24, 2024 the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP) drew attention to the critical issue.

The St Catherine municipality is among the six municipal corporations mentioned in our review of auditor general reports that collectively failed to account for $11 billion over a six-year period.

This failure to provide financial reports to the auditor general means that the entities’ financial affairs remain unaudited, and neither the Government, the Parliament nor the people (the financiers of those funds) are in a position to know if accounting systems are good, fair or poor, and whether our funds were spent as per the Budget approved by parliamentarians or in compliance with the financial laws created by our parliamentarians.

In its advocacy, JAMP warned that this lack of transparency undermines good governance and creates an environment that leaves these entities vulnerable to fraud and mismanagement.

This warning is issued by the auditor general in all annual reports and presentations before Public Accounts Committee hearings. By reviewing and reporting on the findings of a decade of auditor general reports, JAMP sought to call parliamentarians and the public to attention and to urgent action.

The need for this latest MOCA investigation arises as a direct consequence of the Parliament’s and relevant ministries’ failure to heed these warnings, to ensure proper scrutiny, observance of the reporting mandate required by law, and to ensure accountability of all the relevant officers of the council from the time the red flags first appeared in the auditor general’s reports from 2018-19. Had they been doing so, it is highly likely that the alleged losses by fraud would have been averted or minimised.

The investigations into the likelihood of multibillion-dollar fraud at the St Catherine Municipality underscore JAMP’s message: that the statutory requirements for financial reporting are not mere bureaucratic exercises, but are essential safeguards of public resources. Can anyone say with confidence or certainty that similar risks of fraud or other malfeasance are not occurring in other delinquent public entities?

Will this case serve as the final wake-up call to accountable officers and parliamentarians that a credible remedial plan of action must be swiftly developed to address the reporting delinquency and mitigate risks to the public purse?

As outlined in JAMP’s public petition campaign to our Parliament, this plan must include steps towards rigorous investigation; consistent, timely application of available mechanisms for holding to account accountable officers and staff; and clearly outlining the steps to bring all delinquent public entities in line with both the laws of the land and the precepts of transparency and good governance.

We can either wait for the next sensational example of possible fraudulent and/or other malpractices to be brought to the fore, or Parliament, Cabinet, permanent secretaries, ministers, and we, the paying public, can act to ensure our resources and our future are safeguarded.

JEANETTE CALDER

Executive Director

Jamaica Accountability

Meter Portal

jamp@jampja.org