The Mia Amor Mottley Administration has never in the past seven-and-a-half years denied any requests from the Office of the Auditor General, says Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn.
Rather, he added, Government has promised to strengthen the office by giving it more autonomy over hires, and was equally concerned about the length of time it was taking to appoint a new Auditor General after the retirement of Leigh Trotman earlier this year.
Straughn, a guest on Starcom Network’s radio call-in programme Sunday Brass Tacks recently, was responding to an assertion from Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne that Government had refused to provide some information requested by the Auditor General.
In developing the point, moderator David Ellis, who was leading the discussion on the controversial Economic Diversification And Growth Fund Bill, 2025, asked what was happening in the office
since Trotman’s retirement, in light of the assurance by Government that it would have oversight over how
the money was spent.
The Economic Diversification and Growth Fund Bill seeks to make $225 million from the Consolidated Fund – $75 million annually over four years – available to foreign companies to grow jobs, investment and the Barbados economy.
“The Auditor General’s Office is independent. It submits its budget to Parliament, to the commission of Parliament and not once, David, in seven-and-a-half years have I, nor the Prime Minister, adjusted any requests financially, or otherwise, to the Office of the Auditor General,” Straughn said.
He noted that he spoke with the Director of Finance – one of the four individuals on the Fund’s committee – and “expressed my concern at the level of time that it has taken to have a new Auditor General in place”. The post became vacant in April and applications closed on September 5. Someone has been acting in the interim.
Straughn said in recent times, people have been moving away from the audit profession, and this has had a negative impact – not only on the Office of the Auditor General, but Central Government as well – where attempts were being made to set up an audit department.
He said during the 170th anniversary function of the Audit Office earlier this month, Government promised more assistance. This included establishing a Government accounting service that would give the Audit Office the ability to recruit its own staff outside of the Ministry of Public Service, and also providing support for human resources functions, Straughn said.
“There’s nothing to be said that the Government, as asserted by Mr Thorne, has denied the Audit Office any of its requests,” he added.
However, Thorne stuck to his substantive point that the Auditor General “has no jurisdiction in relation to matters outside of this country” and it was “disingenuous” of Straughn to suggest the money from the Economic Diversification and Growth Fund would be subject to the same scrutiny.
Other guests on the programme included attorney Tricia Watson who sounded the alarm on the “vagueness” of the legislation; economist Jeremy Stephen and Senator Jonathan Reid, who spoke during last Friday’s debate in the Senate where the Bill was passed.
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