Bewildered by ‘whingeing’ assertions

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am writing with reference to the editorial of Sunday, July 21, titled “A whingeing permanent secretary” which said:

At the recent sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on July 16, 2024, as the ministry’s accounting officer, I made three points of fact, notably that:

1. the ministry had done a comprehensive analysis of the issues affecting our inability to complete and certify the statements.

2. the ministry had taken tangible steps to reduce the backlog.

3. we are collaborating with key stakeholders to address and mitigate the risks identified by the AG.

The main challenges identified by the ministry included the inability of the old version of the financial-management system to create accurate statements and that there was a need for unauthenticated payment vouchers to be signed by current officers who had a challenge in complying with this request.

In both instances, the ministry presented copious evidence of the work done by us, the Ministry of Finance, and the Accountant General’s Department to address the system issues. We also showed that after working through some 1,340 unsigned vouchers, the ministry was able to reduce this number to approximately 500 vouchers and that we were in dialogue with the finance ministry on the way forward.

Additionally, we showed that the ministry, after 10 years and despite the stated challenges, was able to certify nine of the 33 reports. We also provided documentation of the work being done by our internal auditors and finance and accounts division to bring some finality to the backlog. We also committed to a March 2025 completion date.

I am mystified, therefore, by the castigation of the editorial and find the assertions bewildering. I have watched my presentation on the PBCJ YouTube channel and invite readers to assess from my presentation at what point I “whinged”. At the beginning of the statement, we accepted the AG’s findings. At no point did any member of the team or I equivocate on the importance of completing the task or pivot to any argument to assert that the ministry was indemnified in any way.

We stuck to the timeline, and on the matter of the unsigned vouchers, my assertion was that after all the different courses of action have been examined “I, as the accounting officer, would have to sign”.

The executive team remains committed to addressing the backlog and will work to complete same within the timelines, all things being equal.

DUNSTAN BRYAN

Permanent Secretary

Ministry of Health and

Wellness