Opposition Spokesperson on Labour and Social Security, Senator Floyd Morris, is calling for portfolio minister Karl Samuda to bring his agency under control within six months amid the recent Auditor-General findings.

In a statement on Monday (January 18), Morris said the matter of severe bleeding uncovered by the Auditor-General’s report suggests billions of taxpayers’ dollars are at risk of mismanagement.

“It is antithetical to the idea of good governance and we cannot treat this as just another nine-day wonder. The Auditor-General is constitutionally mandated to ensure that there is probity and transparency in government,” he argued.

“It is disrespectful to the Office of the Auditor-General and the people of Jamaica that the office repeatedly identifies transgressions in Government spending, yet no action is taken,” Morris added.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, in particular, accounts for more than $3.3 billion of the staggering $40 billion under scrutiny.

Continuing, Morris argued that as the ministry responsible for the care and protection of vulnerable Jamaicans, the report is a slap in the face of the government’s mandate.

“The waste of taxpayer dollars at levels identified by the Auditor-General’s report is wholly irresponsible and directly contrary to the mission of the ministry. The capital loss could have improved access to benefits for citizens under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), and the pensions under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS),” he explained.

Morris was careful to remind, however, that action needed to be taken in all agencies and departments identified by the report.

“The Opposition calls on the Government of Jamaica to initiate timely and effective investigations into the ‘recurring violations of established guidelines’ outlined by the Auditor General’s report which put at risk the transparency of and trust in the financial management of government affairs,” he said.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is to appear at the next sitting of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, Julian Robinson has confirmed.

For his part, the PAC chairman noted that the ministry has failed “to respond to concerns raised in the annual report of the Auditor General’s Department.”