Minister of Social Services Melanie Griffin
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
SOCIAL Services Minister Melanie Griffin said further investigations will be conducted into the damning revelations highlighted by Auditor General Terrance Bastian’s report into the Department of Social Services which was tabled in the House of Assembly on Monday.
The report revealed weak internal controls in the department that created opportunities for fraud and waste.
“I anticipate that there will be further investigations, but I don’t wish to preempt what is happening,” Mrs Griffin said when asked about the finding that millions of dollars were paid to vendors without apparent formal authorisation from the director of the department as is required.
While some employees are already facing punishment for engaging in food coupon fraud, it is unclear if any senior management member will face repercussions for allowing as much as $3,682,636 in cheque requests to be processed without the director’s signature.
Pressed on the nature of the investigation she said would take place, Mrs Griffin didn’t confirm if it will be an internal or external investigation.
“I want to say that we have already began to implement the recommendations from the auditor general to modernise the system that we have been plagued with all these years and there will be an investigation, but I don’t want to preempt anything,” she said.
One of Mr Bastian’s more significant findings is that some staff members at the department participated in a fraudulent scheme in which they used food coupons intended for Bahamians on welfare to purchase groceries.
Asked about this, Mrs Griffin said officials found the department’s reliance on food coupons overwhelming, hence their move to digitise the system through the creation of prepaid debit cards.
“Over the years, successive governments have known that the paper intensive system we have with food coupons was open to opportunities for fraud so that is why we would’ve ensured that we put in place social safety net reform which included the prepaid debit card, eradicating the printing of food coupons which we expect will reduce the level of fraud or opportunities for fraud,” she said.
“The reform process also included the strengthening of the Department of Social Services. The food coupons have been eliminated. We don’t print them anymore. Only in the Family Islands on a limited basis we use them but we’re moving toward the card in the Family Islands.”
Nonetheless, Mr Bastian’s audit raised the question of whether employment conditions at the department prompted some employees to commit food coupon fraud.
Mr Bastian found that many employees at DOSS were underemployed, with 172 of the 515 employees classified under the Unemployment Assistance Programme.
The programme was designed to give clients of the DOSS temporary employment opportunities for a period of three months until they sought full-time gainful employment.
However, 70 per cent of those employees were employed with the DOSS for five years or more, raising questions about the government’s failure to regularise them into the public system.
Former State Minister for Social Development Loretta Butler-Turner told The Tribune yesterday that someone should be held accountable for what appears to be a poor oversight and management lapses that were detailed in Mr Bastian’s report.
“There are many civil servants that are doing their jobs extremely well, working in the parametres of the law but in every instance you tend to have individuals that will not abide by the law,” she said. “This is probably an instance where you have a small group of persons doing this and that small group should be held accountable for whatever they have done.”
Mrs Butler-Turner said the finding that top officials in the DOSS failed to sign off on large payments to vendors “shocking,” questioning whether checks and balances were in place.
As for the food coupon fraud, she said: “It’s certainly disheartening to me to see that in these hard economic times where we have individuals below the property level, to know that there seems to be some kind of disconnect in getting the public funds expended to alleviate poverty.
“One thing I would stand by is you don’t take from the poor. I don’t believe it is a widespread practice but there must be an investigation. There are not proper checks and balances. We must make sure consequences follow and that protocols not being employed need to be employed. We must make sure the people’s money is being used for what it is earmarked for.”
The audit covered the period July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2015.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 8 years ago
How long before the PLP attack the Auditor General again?
sheeprunner12 8 years ago
Das good for her ........... she bad mouth LBT too much ......... and it come right back to bite her in her fat ass .......... I don't feel sorry for her ......... now she pulling a Brave on the AGD
watcher 8 years ago
Isn't it ironic that she states today that invetigations will commence? Is she trying to tell us that the Auditor General prepared his report, did the field work, prepared for it to be tabled in the House, all without her having any prior knowledge? Of course not !! Just another weaselly rat trying to wriggle out of another corruption scandal. And we all know that nothing will come of it, except for the $4 million staying in PLP croney pockets
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years ago
Like so many in Christie's cabinet, including Christie himself, she is so incompetent that by comparison the typically grossly incompetent permanent secretary found within our government ministries seems like a stellar performer.
asiseeit 8 years ago
We all know that this is just lip service and nothing will be done or change. There are no real leaders that will enact the rule of law and make people accountable for their actions.
Publius 7 years, 12 months ago
She is going to investigate the Auditor's Report? The Auditor is the investigator, and his report is the result of the government's Constitutional investigation into the Ministry.
John 7 years, 12 months ago
Did they shred all the evidence showing how all the school uniform vouchers went to a store owned by the family of a minister in New Providence and the same thing happened in Freeport? Now many of the small vendors who used to make and sell uniforms are out of business while these stores doubled their number of locations
Economist 7 years, 12 months ago
No, she won't do anything but talk about it as the Country continues to bleed money.
Publius 7 years, 12 months ago
And why do these things keep happening? Because no one is ever made to pay for these crimes - and they are already crimes. No law needs to be passed to make them crimes. Things in this country will only get worse so long as lawlessness is accepted, tolerated and encouraged.
SP 7 years, 12 months ago
............................................. She will do nothing as usual ...............................................
We will never hear of any "finding" and no one will be held accountable because endemic corruption begins at the top and filters down with each tier knowing of corruption of higher tiers, so nobody can point the finger at anybody without risking bringing the whole stack of cards crumbling to the ground.
licks2 7 years, 12 months ago
WELL MOTHER-SIC. . .National Review May 2nd, 2016 show Candia Dames talking about public slackness. . .ripping PHA, BAMSI and the current report!
She elaborated mostly about PHA. . .what was under Doc Minnis at the time. . .and BAMSI what was under Alfred Gray. . .and Social Services under Minister Griffin from 2012 to 2013!
However, the audit covered 2010 to 2013. . .with 2010 to 12 files being "deal with" while Auditors were working! Pray tell who was the minister responsible for SS during the "period of interest? YOU GUESSED IT. . .LORETTA BUTLER-TURNER!!
Then on top of that obvious "blindness" of national review. . .BUTLER-TURNER WAS ALLOWED TO RIP THE CURRENT MINISTER "A NEW ONE" . . .from her high tower given by national review.
So everybody have to "get on the carpet" except BT. . .the Minister in charge of the department for the period for which the files "fly in the bushes" while the Auditors were "peeping" in they files them! Why did not NR asked BT about the AG suspicions that 2010 2012 files them "run" out the filing cabinet to hide "ssssssssssss" going on during that period!
I wonder now if Candia Dames done gone and lost her dang head. . .and can't see straight any more? She must know by now that we smell a rat with her "derailment" from the fine job she was doing when NR first started! Now the leaked e-mails??????
Boy I guess they are right when they say "politics make strange bedfellows". . .
sheeprunner12 7 years, 12 months ago
Griffin is taking a page right out of the Chief Crook's book ......... Brave ..... she is a good understudy
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