Five-year delay in payment of incentives to RGD workers
Published:Wednesday | January 12, 2022 | 10:38 AM
Workers at the Registrar General's Department (RGD) have been owed a total of $135.8 million in performance incentives over three fiscal years.
The revelation was made in the annual report of the auditor general that was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
In her report, Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis said that the RGD owed its employees the incentives for financial years 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.
A review of the department found that the RGD failed to assess the key performance indicators (KPIs) in a timely manner to facilitate the payment of incentives to staff within three months after the end of the financial year, as required by the Financial Instructions to executive agencies.
“We noted that the performance evaluations for the financial years ended March 31, 2017, and 2018 were completed and sent to the portfolio Ministry (Office of the Prime Minister) in November 2020 for approval, 44 and 32 months respectively, after the statutory deadline,” the report stated.
The auditor general said that despite requests by her department, RGD did not present the KPIs reports for years ended March 31, 2019, and March 31, 2020.
Monroe Ellis noted that the RGD's delay in the assessment of the KPIs have denied stakeholders information to effectively execute oversight function over the agency.
She said that this also undermines the effective monitoring of the agency's performance and affects the budgetary process which may have a financial strain on its limited cash resources.
In the absence of immediate action to improve the timely review of the KPIs, the auditor general said that there was the likelihood that corrective action by the financial secretary might be delayed.
The RGD has reportedly acknowledged the delay in the assessment of the KPIs for the stated financial years.
The agency has indicated that more resources are being employed to ensure finalisation of the KPIs, noting that efforts will be made to avoid a repeat of the breach.
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