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Tuesday, 15 January 2008 
The Auditor General's report into the Cuban Light Bulb Project has painted a damning picture of the work done by former Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell and his deputy Kern Spencer who had direct control of the programme.
In his report tabled in Parliament Tuesday, the Auditor General says the programme was not planned or implemented in a satisfactory manner.
The Auditor General concluded that the basic rudiments of good public sector management were absent and that there were wholesale breaches of the government procurement and disbursement rules.
The report also stated that weak or absent documentation severely undermined the accountability process.
In highlighting this particular deficiency, the Auditor General said his team was unable to get a copy of any written agreement between the governments of Jamaica and Cuba on the number of bulbs supplied and the number of Cuban social workers volunteered to be engaged and which expenditure in relation to their stay would be met by either government.
In addition the Auditor General said there was an absence of the required written contracts preventing a clear indication of who engaged the service providers and what were the terms of reference paid.
As well the Auditor General said there was an absence of an effective system of budgetary control resulting in the making of payments and the incurring of unpaid obligations of $185.39 million over the approved financial support from the PPJ.
The report also pointed to wide scale breaches of the Government's procurement rules in relation to registration with the National Contracts Commission, the production of tax compliance certificates, recommendations from the NCC, Cabinet approval and use of competitive tenders and price quotatuions, preventing an assessment as to whether the best rates or prices were obtained.
It also pointed to a general failure to comply with the Government's disbursement rules in connection with the need for independent certification that goods and services paid for were properly provided, production of the appropriate supporting bills and invoices and acknowledgment of receipt of funds from the payees.
The Auditor General says this prevented verification that many payments made were in fact authentic.
The report also points to an apparent over payment of over $2 million for management and professional fees.
The Auditor General's report into the Cuban Light Bulb Project has painted a damning picture of the work done by former Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell and his deputy Kern Spencer who had direct control of the programme.In his report tabled in Parliament Tuesday, the Auditor General says the programme was not planned or implemented in a satisfactory manner.
The Auditor General concluded that the basic rudiments of good public sector management were absent and that there were wholesale breaches of the government procurement and disbursement rules.
The report also stated that weak or absent documentation severely undermined the accountability process.
In highlighting this particular deficiency, the Auditor General said his team was unable to get a copy of any written agreement between the governments of Jamaica and Cuba on the number of bulbs supplied and the number of Cuban social workers volunteered to be engaged and which expenditure in relation to their stay would be met by either government.
In addition the Auditor General said there was an absence of the required written contracts preventing a clear indication of who engaged the service providers and what were the terms of reference paid.
As well the Auditor General said there was an absence of an effective system of budgetary control resulting in the making of payments and the incurring of unpaid obligations of $185.39 million over the approved financial support from the PPJ.
The report also pointed to wide scale breaches of the Government's procurement rules in relation to registration with the National Contracts Commission, the production of tax compliance certificates, recommendations from the NCC, Cabinet approval and use of competitive tenders and price quotatuions, preventing an assessment as to whether the best rates or prices were obtained.
It also pointed to a general failure to comply with the Government's disbursement rules in connection with the need for independent certification that goods and services paid for were properly provided, production of the appropriate supporting bills and invoices and acknowledgment of receipt of funds from the payees.
The Auditor General says this prevented verification that many payments made were in fact authentic.
The report also points to an apparent over payment of over $2 million for management and professional fees.
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