Tag: Public Accounts Committee
Ozzie signs off on medical welfare cases
(CNS): Public Accounts Committee members were shocked to learn Friday that the law requires the community affairs minister to sign off on all cases of people who need medical care but do not have health insurance or are under-insured. Osbourne Bodden is currently the minister holding the cheque book over who does and does not […]
NAU dealing with 2,500 families
(CNS): The director of the Needs Assessment Unit (NAU) revealed that her department deals with 2,500 families in the Cayman Islands annually and the unit is chronically underfunded. Tamara Hurlston said appointments for assessments are backed up for months and she is not expecting any additional funding in the forthcoming budget unless the minister responsible for […]
CPA chair admits dismissing technical advice
(CNS): The chair of the Central Planning Authority (CPA) admitted dismissing advice from government experts at the Water Authority – Cayman, the National Roads Authority, the Department of Environment and even the planning department because, he said, his board members know what they are doing. Although no one on the CPA has professional and academic expertise in […]
Dart deal risks remain as talks continue
(CNS): The ongoing re-negotiations between the Cayman government and Dart over the controversial NRA agreement still pose risks to the public purse, auditors revealed Wednesday. During the Public Accounts Committee hearing Wednesday, as members questioned Alan Jones, the chief officer in the planning ministry about the lessons learned from the audit report that found the […]
PAC returns with CPA chair as anticipated witness
(CNS): The Public Accounts Committee resumed Wednesday morning with the committee members scheduled to question the chair of the Central Planning Authority, Al Thompson, and the chief officer in the planning ministry, Alan Jones. The committee is still scrutinising a number of recently published audit reports, including one pointing to some serious and historic failings […]
‘Runaway’ SAGCs must be controlled
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government is failing to control statutory authorities and government companies (SAGCs), which should be controlled through ownership agreements, but the budget documents that set out the annual deal between core government and the semi-autonomous entities are not being properly used to hold them to account, according to the Office of the Auditor General […]
Environment still not on CPA agenda
(CNS): The Central Planning Authority is still not giving environmental considerations equal weight when making decisions about development, despite recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General and the impending implementation of the final part of the conservation law. The director of the Department of Environment, Gina Ebanks-Petrie, told the Public Accounts Committee last week […]
Long road to welfare reform
(CNS): A catalogue of problems with government social assistance programmes are far from being addressed as the community affairs ministry is only at the start of a long road towards welfare reform and implementing a defined policy to deal with people in the Cayman Islands in need. Dorine Whittaker, the chief officer in the ministry, said staff […]
Government IT still under resourced
(CNS): The government is still not investing enough in information technology to ensure its future security or the necessary systems required to move towards comprehensive e-government services. Computer services is still operating on half the budget it had in 2009 and is still under resourced, despite warnings from the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) going […]
Duty waiver grants ripe for corruption
(CNS): More than six months after the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) raised the alarm over the failures in government’s management of fee and duty waivers, the situation is now worse, according to Martin Ruben, the audit performance director. Following a change in the law so that waivers of $20,000 or more are only […]
Jefferson to lead on government books
(CNS): Financial Secretary Kenneth Jefferson has been formally identified as the person to take charge of core government’s overall financial reporting, the deputy governor has confirmed. After years of warnings from the Office of the Auditor General that a leader had to be appointed to deal with the ongoing weaknesses in government accounting, Franz Manderson told […]
