JPAC Calls for Full Review of Smart Stream System

When government money is spent, someone has to follow the trail. That is the role of the Joint Public Accounts Committee, and tonight, it is turning its attention to Smart Stream, the system used to manage public finances. The expanded JPAC, which now includes senators and social partner representatives, has asked the Auditor General to carry out a full review of Smart Stream’s financial management system. The request was made on July ninth, as the audit into the Ministry of Defense’s finances continues. And already, the Auditor General has agreed to take it on. We spoke with JPAC Chairman Godwin Haylock.

 

Godwin Haylock, Chairman, Joint Public Accounts Committee

“The Smart Stream system we believe was created to help report, to help reconcile how finances are run within the government system. It is something the government requires to create a robust accounting system and we thought that as a group it was not working in the way it should, in the sense it should be helping the public in seeing how public finances are spent, because at the end of the day it is not our personal money. It is the people’s money, and we have to be an oversight committee to ensure that it is running right. So the way we see it right now and how majority of the public is viewing this, it is not open, it is not transparent and doing what it is supposed to do. So we wrote her, saying hear what, tell us what is going on with the Smart Stream system. The people of Belize want to know and deserve to know. I did that, I think on July tenth. Yesterday, four or five days later, Auditor General responded immediately, saying that she will try her best, undertake within a three months span to see how she can get the information to get the job done. So I am really proud to see an auditor general that is pushing to see policies created so these things don’t happen.”

 

Why Are Lawmakers Reviewing 2017 Finances in 2026?

 

If public money is being mismanaged today, how long should Belizeans have to wait before anyone gets answers? That is the concern surrounding the work of the Joint Public Accounts Committee, which is currently reviewing audited financials from 2017, while several more recent audits remain pending. With the Auditor General now looking into the Ministry of Defense’s finances, we asked JPAC Chairman Godwin Haylock whether the committee will seek access to that report as an exception to the usual process.

 

Godwin Haylock, Chairman, Joint Public Account Committee

“We are also looking at the aspect to find out legally if the committee has the power to check what is going on in present time, like the Mira scandal. Who are the public officers involved? Can we bring them to do an interview, have the public hear why they decided to split the payments, because everybody wants to know what is going on.”

 

Paul Lopez

“How then can JPAC get involved in the process, once it is completed to do a review of it, instead of waiting for years to come?”

 

Godwin Haylock

“The problem with the audit is that it is reported and that report goes to the House. For example, the Special Senate hearing, that report went to the President of Senate and it has never seen the light of day. That is where we believe the legislative system needs to change. When the auditor general writes a report, we want it released immediately. Don’t take it through all these stages where it ends up lying dead on somebody’s desk. And we hope that the government sees it and the government is willing to start a new law that will allow reports to be opened as they finished. We don’t need to go through no paperwork and unwrapping. Let the people know right away.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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