THESE ARE trying times for the taxpayer. The country has not fully recovered from the knowledge that millions of dollars went down the drain in the infamous IT fiasco, and a report which states that an interfering Minister has caused millions of dollars to be paid for work not done in housing projects.
The reported resignation of Joseph A. Matalon as executive chairman of the state-run transportation company came fast on the heels of an audit of the JUTC. The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party has asked for the audit to be made public. Rightly so. For too long Ministers of Government have comfortably sailed above the fray by responding to accountability issues with comments on new initiatives or promises to investigate.
Mr. Robert Pickersgill, a senior member of the Government knows this well and perhaps this explains why he contemptuously dismissed attempts by this newspaper to get answers about what is happening at the JUTC. "I am not saying anything more on the matter," he told a reporter.
Consider such arrogance in the face of a staggering loss by the JUTC of $1.2 billion last year and the fact that the company continues to bleed with projected losses for this year being put at $900 million. It is clear that Mr Pickersgill does not think the taxpayers ought to be told how this money was spent, whether the transactions were sound and whether the public is getting value for money.
Any well-thinking management would order an audit of such a sick company. Here is what Mr Pickersgill had to say on that score. "I do not know what the audit was commissioned to do and what were the findings." He admitted a copy was sent to his office but he had not had time to read it!
Who ordered the audit is irrelevant and this should not blunt the findings either. Audits don't come cheaply and Mr Pickersgill has a duty to acquaint himself with the operations of the JUTC, and he should be anxious to review such a document. Are there urgent changes that need to be made at the JUTC? Can it be more efficient? are there cost-cutting measures to be instituted? Presumably an audit would help to answer some of these questions.
The JUTC is not sacrosanct and the audit should be out in the open. A government must address the concerns of the people. The effective movement of people is critical in support of the country's economic goals. Transportation is everybody's business. Mr Pickersgill's attitude is bewildering and doesn't inspire much confidence in his ability to effectively run a Ministry.
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