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Hales admits to giving incorrect info to media about AG's report
BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer senior reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
PERMANENT Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works Dr Alwyn Hales has backpedalled on statements made last week in which he said Auditor General Pamela Munroe-Ellis did not give the ministry the opportunity to respond to the concerns raised in the recent audit query on the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) before sending the final document to Parliament.
Speaking at a hastily arranged press briefing at the ministry's Hagley Park Road offices last week, Dr Hales told members of the media that no exit interview was done with the ministry as required by protocol which would have allowed the ministry to clarify a number of issues raised by the auditor general.
"The next thing we knew is that the report was tabled and in the hand of others even before it got to us," he told reporters at the time. He also at that meeting disputed a media report which quoted the auditor general as saying that the report was in the hands of the agency some four weeks before it was released.
But this morning, following a staunch defence of the integrity of the report and the reputation of the office by the auditor general, who said she was pressed to defend the credibility of her office and the processes used, Dr Hales told a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament that, "in restrospect", his statement to the media at the briefing last week was not made in "the correct way".
He also said that the way the story was handled by the media with reports in sections that he had "rebuffed the report of the auditor general" had aggravated the situation further.
Dr Hales' admission had members of the PAC gasping in surprise.
"You are confirming contrary to media reports that there was ample opportunity to respond to the auditor general?" Committee Chair Dr Peter Phillips probed.
"The report is accepted by the ministry, we take it very seriously," Dr Hales said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1f7zqspmx
BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer senior reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
PERMANENT Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works Dr Alwyn Hales has backpedalled on statements made last week in which he said Auditor General Pamela Munroe-Ellis did not give the ministry the opportunity to respond to the concerns raised in the recent audit query on the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) before sending the final document to Parliament.
Speaking at a hastily arranged press briefing at the ministry's Hagley Park Road offices last week, Dr Hales told members of the media that no exit interview was done with the ministry as required by protocol which would have allowed the ministry to clarify a number of issues raised by the auditor general.
"The next thing we knew is that the report was tabled and in the hand of others even before it got to us," he told reporters at the time. He also at that meeting disputed a media report which quoted the auditor general as saying that the report was in the hands of the agency some four weeks before it was released.
But this morning, following a staunch defence of the integrity of the report and the reputation of the office by the auditor general, who said she was pressed to defend the credibility of her office and the processes used, Dr Hales told a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament that, "in restrospect", his statement to the media at the briefing last week was not made in "the correct way".
He also said that the way the story was handled by the media with reports in sections that he had "rebuffed the report of the auditor general" had aggravated the situation further.
Dr Hales' admission had members of the PAC gasping in surprise.
"You are confirming contrary to media reports that there was ample opportunity to respond to the auditor general?" Committee Chair Dr Peter Phillips probed.
"The report is accepted by the ministry, we take it very seriously," Dr Hales said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1f7zqspmx
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