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Auditor General Pamela Monroe-Ellis says her audit has found that the government breached the Road Maintenance Fund Act by unilaterally changing provisions of the Act without Parliamentary approval.
Mrs. Monroe-Ellis also said she was concerned with the lack of independence of the Road Maintenance Fund Board in administering the fund that was set up to rehabilitate the nation’s roads.
The findings were unveiled in an audit report, which the Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Dr. Omar Davies, asked the Auditor General to carry out after failing to get answers on how the funds are being used.
The audit of the Road Maintenance Fund was carried out to determine if all the funds that should be paid into it were indeed paid over and whether withdrawals and expenditures were in accordance with the provisions of the Road Maintenance Fund Act.
But after careful assessment, the auditor general said she found that there were breaches of the Act.
The breaches related to how much of the $8.75 increase in the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) on gasoline was to go into the fund.
Finance Minister Audley Shaw in April 2009 said that in the first year, 20% of the increase in the SCT would go into the fund in the 2009/2010 fiscal year and 35% in the current fiscal year.
If those percentages were realised, it would have meant $1.9 billion should have gone into the Fund between April 2009 and June of this year.
However only $1.67 billion from the SCT was actually remitted to the Fund, representing a $235 million shortfall.
The Auditor General said the reason behind the shortfall is the government’s breach of a provision in the Road Maintenance Fund Act.
Mrs. Monroe Ellis said Cabinet breached the RMF Act when it decided to continue to pay over 20% of the increased SCT on fuel in this fiscal year to the fund, rather than increasing it to the 35% the Finance Minister said it would deposited in the second year.
Such a decision should have been made by Parliament and not the cabinet.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/...nance-fund-act
Mrs. Monroe-Ellis also said she was concerned with the lack of independence of the Road Maintenance Fund Board in administering the fund that was set up to rehabilitate the nation’s roads.
The findings were unveiled in an audit report, which the Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Dr. Omar Davies, asked the Auditor General to carry out after failing to get answers on how the funds are being used.
The audit of the Road Maintenance Fund was carried out to determine if all the funds that should be paid into it were indeed paid over and whether withdrawals and expenditures were in accordance with the provisions of the Road Maintenance Fund Act.
But after careful assessment, the auditor general said she found that there were breaches of the Act.
The breaches related to how much of the $8.75 increase in the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) on gasoline was to go into the fund.
Finance Minister Audley Shaw in April 2009 said that in the first year, 20% of the increase in the SCT would go into the fund in the 2009/2010 fiscal year and 35% in the current fiscal year.
If those percentages were realised, it would have meant $1.9 billion should have gone into the Fund between April 2009 and June of this year.
However only $1.67 billion from the SCT was actually remitted to the Fund, representing a $235 million shortfall.
The Auditor General said the reason behind the shortfall is the government’s breach of a provision in the Road Maintenance Fund Act.
Mrs. Monroe Ellis said Cabinet breached the RMF Act when it decided to continue to pay over 20% of the increased SCT on fuel in this fiscal year to the fund, rather than increasing it to the 35% the Finance Minister said it would deposited in the second year.
Such a decision should have been made by Parliament and not the cabinet.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/...nance-fund-act
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