Former Kgn mayor denounces audit plans as ‘distraction’
Published:Wednesday | April 10, 2024 | 12:08 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Former Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams has labelled plans by the new chairman of the Finance Committee of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) Dennis Gordon to request an audit into the operations of the municipality under his stewardship as a “distraction”.
Speaking at a press conference after Tuesday’s council meeting, Gordon claimed that the former KSAMC administration spent more than $80 million above the approved budget for salaries, the bulk of which, he said, was used to employ municipal police officers who were never trained but were Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) activists.
He indicated that he will be inviting the Auditor General’s Department to conduct an audit into the operations of the previous JLP administration.
“At our first meeting, we asked for a forensic audit of not just the headcount, but also the processes. There were a lot of breaches that occurred. One I can tell you off the cuff, $88 million was added to the payroll without any approval,” he said.
NOT A WITCH HUNT
With the agreement of Mayor Andrew Swaby, Gordon said a letter requesting the audit will be sent to the auditor general after the next meeting of the Finance Committee on April 25.
“We’re here not for witch hunt. We’re here to clarify what it is [that] His Worship (Mayor Swaby) is going to preside over,” he said.
“There are things that we must do, as we have said we will do, because as we have said it is the people’s business and we are going to manage the affairs with transparency, credibility and accountability,” he added.
But stating that he “welcomes” the audit, Williams argued that this is merely a ploy by the People’s National Party (PNP) to deflect from Mayor Swaby disregard of established practice of having all elected councillors sit on certain committees in council.
Gordon also accused the former Williams-led administration of “mongrelising” the office of the city inspector.
According to him, the city inspector, which was a gazetted position as outlined in the establishment standards set by the Ministry of Finance, was demoted and a commandant was put in his place.
“I have no intention to deceive the public. What I said is factual. The Ministry of Finance sent down an establishment chart with all the gazetted positions. This $88 million was spent on non-gazetted positions,” he said.
“So when you’re talking about distraction and political manoeuvring, we’re going to deal with it,” he added.