Spending taxpayers’ dollars recklessly

Dear Editor,

It is my wish to add my humble view into the recent debacle at the Education Ministry, a matter which has attracted wide public attention by virtue of its very serious nature, wherein taxpayers’ hard earned dollars have been both recklessly and fraudulently expended.

The Permanent Secretary seeks to direct attention to blaming technical officers for faulty costing matters, and to downplay the gravity of the matter. This entire episode is the height of barefacedness, and the PS is seeking to justify fraudulent misappropriation of public funds. The fact is that tax payers’ money was misappropriated to fortify the personal and private property of the PS, which is separate, distinct, and opposed to the case of being spent on a govt-owned property.

Whatever home problems the PS is getting at nights has absolutely nothing to do with the Ministry’s work programme; and, for that matter, do not form part of the approved budget to build a guard hut at his private residence. That’s also saying that every officer in the Govt service should have Govt funds expended to build guard huts and other security facilities at their personal and private residences.

From the news reports, another of his colleagues at the head of the PSM, his personal friend, is seeking to cleverly excuse and perhaps justify such blatant misappropriations by asserting that PSs work hard and are entitled to that, because they are often away from home; which is really very comical. In effect, he is saying that PSs are entitled to steal or commit fraud because they work hard.

It is a fact that they get a security allowance in-built as part of their remuneration package; but to go outside of that and to do a double-take by charging to the Govt’s votes his personal and private expenses, which enhance his own property value, is entirely another matter.

This colleague is obviously deliberately obscuring and confusing cases wherein such top officers live in, or occupy, Govt buildings; in which case they can safely build guard huts or whatever, but this is directly opposed to their personal and private property.

Quite frankly, that PS of the PSM is not even the competent authority to make any pronouncement on such accountability matters; that authority should be either the Accountant General, the Auditor General, or the Secretary to the Treasury.

Another point worthy of note is that there is no other PS who has taken Govt funds to build guard huts or whatever at their private and personal homes. The matter of the elaborate toilet facility rental even further compounds the matter in terms of its gravity.

A further point to consider is that the DPS Finance, who also signed as a party to this fraudulent misappropriation, also had a direct responsibility in preventing this type of criminal abuse of public funds, but instead chose to willingly be part and parcel of its perpetration; hence the obvious question that comes to mind is: “In what way(s) did she benefit in real terms?”

It is somewhat interesting/admirable how swiftly the new administration moved to take the needed action against the previous Govt’s Minister of Public Service, and also the former Legal Affairs Minister, as well as a former PS at the OP; but it remains to be seen now if that is a principled position in terms of handing this matter to SOCU for the appropriate criminal legal action. So far, most people are of the view that the new administration will do the right thing in not ignoring this by virtue of its serious nature. Thus it remains to be seen.

Sincerely,

Concerned citizen