Flowers Warns Against Widening Defense Audit

For Dean Flowers, the real test of the Defense Ministry audit is not how many years it covers, but whether it uncovers any misuse of public funds and holds those responsible to account. The PSU president says the Auditor General is best placed to independently examine the procurement practices that came under scrutiny during the tenure of Oscar Mira and Florencio Marin Jr. Flowers, however, is questioning calls to widen the review, warning that the investigation should not lose sight of possible abuse of office.

 

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“There needs to be, of course, the holding of accountable by the finance officers who oversaw these purchases. These are the types of thing that we as Belizeans should be focused on. We should not be distracted by the audit going all the way back to 2015. But fine, we’ll take that too because that’s part of the work of the Auditor General. But we also want to ask the Auditor General to expand these kind of audits within other ministry, beginning with the Prime Minister’s office. That is where the hundreds of millions in procurements is being spent. That is where we need to ascertain if the financial secretary has been adhering, to the FAR and the other fiscal accountability and responsibility regulations. So I challenge Maria that after she finishes with the Ministry of Defense, that she takes her audit into the Ministry of Finance, and thereafter to other ministries which are very high risk and which are juggling hundreds of millions. The Ministry of Education is another one that needs some serious auditing, given the fact that we now know that there has been serious problems with reconciliations. So, I’m not paying attention to the noise that in my view is being created by extending the audit to 2015.”

 

Dean Flowers said the government should focus on strengthening safeguards to prevent future abuses, while also questioning whether a high-value public sector appointment promotes transparency and accountability in the procurement process.

 

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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