Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 10, 2012 News
AG Report 2011…
– Did not follow procurement procedure, poor records keeping
From all indications, companies in the Private Sector are not the only defaulters when it comes to keeping their obligations to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
The Auditor General’s Report 2011 revealed that 11 employees of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs were without NIS numbers, as at December 31, 2011. The report further disclosed that one of the officers has been employed with the Ministry since 2002.
This revelation comes at a time when NIS is in financial trouble and insufficient contributions are being cited as one of the main reasons for the entity’s plight.
General Manager of NIS, Mr. Terry Thomas at a recently held consultation, stated, “Our income has not been matching our expenditure…We have to do certain things to correct that so that we can have enough income in order to pay all the benefits that we have, rather than eating into the reserves that we have.”
The official added, “We are having an aging population and therefore, the rate of our outflow is much more than our inflow…there are less persons employed who are paying, so that’s why we have to increase the rate or get more persons to contribute to the Scheme. Investment income is also falling and therefore we are not getting lots of money from investment.”
According to the Audit Office report, “It should be emphasized that non-registration with the National Insurance Scheme has implications for social security and other benefits for the employees, therefore steps should be taken to have the employees registered without delay.”
The report also revealed that an examination of personal files for new employees for the period under review showed that pertinent information relating to payment of salary for 23 officers could not be ascertained. As a result, the accuracy and validity of the amounts paid to the officers could not be verified.
The Ministry was also found in breach of the procurement procedure, by the Audit Office during 2011.
The report stated, “Over the financial period, a sum of $4.792M was expended on dietary supplies for the Amerindian Hostel and the Students Dormitory, Liliendaal. However, there was no evidence that tender procedures were followed in the procurement of the goods.”
The Head of the Budgetary Agency merely accepted that this breach as an oversight and assured that the Ministry will adhere to the procurement regulations.
Meanwhile, the sum of $6.465M was expended on repairs and replacement of spare parts to vehicles operated by the Ministry. However, historical records were not maintained as required to capture the related maintenance costs of vehicles owned and operated by the Ministry. As such, the Ministry was unable to monitor the individual cost of repairs and to determine whether it was economical to retain or dispose of certain vehicles.
In response, the Head of the Budget Agency said that historical records for vehicles were maintained but were not updated.
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