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I fail to agree with the OCG on this one. I don't agree that a document marked confidential should be published around..I think he can repeat the contents of the doc but publishing it makes no sense. While I like the work he is doing, I think we get so caught up with power, autthority and the like and we forget common sense and the spirit of the rules and laws put in place.
RadioJamaica:
PSB misguided in its understanding of the lawful powers of the OCG
The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) is reportedly deeply troubled by the contents of a Statement, dated March 23 that was issued by the Permanent Secretaries Board (PSB).
The Statement was issued after the OCG published a Memo, stamped ‘Confidential’, written by Audrey Sewell, Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Transport to Transport minister Dr Omar Davies.
In the memo the PS registered her concerns about her ignorance of matters related to the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP).
The PSB, in its Statement questioned among other things the lawful authority of the OCG to publish the Memo.
The PSB warned that “It is the expectation of the Board that there will not be a recurrence of this type of action and that there will be strict adherence to the spirit and intent of the Contractor General Act by all concerned”.
In a statement on Tuesday March 27 the OCG notes that it considers the PSB’s Statement to be an ill-advised and un-lawful incursion upon the lawful authority and jurisdiction of the OCG under the Contractor General Act.
According to the OCG the PSB is misguided in its understanding of the role, functions and lawful powers of the OCG, and regret that the “PSB’s implicit ignorance, in this regard, has apparently been foisted upon what could be an unsuspecting media and the public.”
The OCG underscored the fact that it is an Independent Anti-Corruption Commission of Parliament, which is vested with the statutory mandate, to “ensure”, among other things, that Government contracts are awarded impartially and on merit, in circumstances that do not involve impropriety or irregularity.
It added that the mandate was invoked by the PS, herself, when, while drafting the subject Memo, she complained to the OCG that her public accountability and procurement oversight responsibilities, in relation to the JEEP, were being undermined, presumably by the Political Executive.
Once the OCG’s mandate has been invoked no one, inclusive of the PSB, can lawfully instruct the OCG as to what it should or should not do in the lawful discharge of its functions under the Contractor General Act.
The OCG added that “it’s instructive for the PSB to note that so extensive are the powers of a Contractor General to secure, and to publish information, in the public interest, not even the Official Secrets Act can be held up as a lawful bar, by a Public Officer, to refuse to provide a Contractor General with information which he demands.
The Act also empowers a Contractor General to publish information or documentation which “he (and not the PSB) thinks necessary to make in the discharge of his functions”.
The statement pointed out that whether a Public Officer chooses to stamp the word “Confidential” on a document, or not, is wholly immaterial.
According to the OCG the public must not allow itself to be distracted or to lose sight of the bigger picture in this JEEP matter.
The big picture is that the PS had, in essence, unequivocally documented, in her Memo, her concerns that her lawful authority, as the Accounting Officer of the Ministry of Transport, was been undermined in a matter which is expected to involve the expenditure of more than $5 billion of taxpayers’ money in the award of Government of Jamaica contracts.
The OCG wishes to assure the public that in the days to come, it will ensure that its findings, as regards the JEEP, inclusive of the written disclosures of the PS, that were given under her hand, on March 23 will be brought to full public light.
RadioJamaica:
PSB misguided in its understanding of the lawful powers of the OCG
The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) is reportedly deeply troubled by the contents of a Statement, dated March 23 that was issued by the Permanent Secretaries Board (PSB).
The Statement was issued after the OCG published a Memo, stamped ‘Confidential’, written by Audrey Sewell, Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Transport to Transport minister Dr Omar Davies.
In the memo the PS registered her concerns about her ignorance of matters related to the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP).
The PSB, in its Statement questioned among other things the lawful authority of the OCG to publish the Memo.
The PSB warned that “It is the expectation of the Board that there will not be a recurrence of this type of action and that there will be strict adherence to the spirit and intent of the Contractor General Act by all concerned”.
In a statement on Tuesday March 27 the OCG notes that it considers the PSB’s Statement to be an ill-advised and un-lawful incursion upon the lawful authority and jurisdiction of the OCG under the Contractor General Act.
According to the OCG the PSB is misguided in its understanding of the role, functions and lawful powers of the OCG, and regret that the “PSB’s implicit ignorance, in this regard, has apparently been foisted upon what could be an unsuspecting media and the public.”
The OCG underscored the fact that it is an Independent Anti-Corruption Commission of Parliament, which is vested with the statutory mandate, to “ensure”, among other things, that Government contracts are awarded impartially and on merit, in circumstances that do not involve impropriety or irregularity.
It added that the mandate was invoked by the PS, herself, when, while drafting the subject Memo, she complained to the OCG that her public accountability and procurement oversight responsibilities, in relation to the JEEP, were being undermined, presumably by the Political Executive.
Once the OCG’s mandate has been invoked no one, inclusive of the PSB, can lawfully instruct the OCG as to what it should or should not do in the lawful discharge of its functions under the Contractor General Act.
The OCG added that “it’s instructive for the PSB to note that so extensive are the powers of a Contractor General to secure, and to publish information, in the public interest, not even the Official Secrets Act can be held up as a lawful bar, by a Public Officer, to refuse to provide a Contractor General with information which he demands.
The Act also empowers a Contractor General to publish information or documentation which “he (and not the PSB) thinks necessary to make in the discharge of his functions”.
The statement pointed out that whether a Public Officer chooses to stamp the word “Confidential” on a document, or not, is wholly immaterial.
According to the OCG the public must not allow itself to be distracted or to lose sight of the bigger picture in this JEEP matter.
The big picture is that the PS had, in essence, unequivocally documented, in her Memo, her concerns that her lawful authority, as the Accounting Officer of the Ministry of Transport, was been undermined in a matter which is expected to involve the expenditure of more than $5 billion of taxpayers’ money in the award of Government of Jamaica contracts.
The OCG wishes to assure the public that in the days to come, it will ensure that its findings, as regards the JEEP, inclusive of the written disclosures of the PS, that were given under her hand, on March 23 will be brought to full public light.
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