NSWMA - Failure to surrender over $16 million to the Consolidated Fund

Auditor General's Findings

The Auditor General’s Department Annual Report for the 2019/2020 Financial Year reported that:

3.2.255. Excess Appropriations In Aid (A-I-A) of $16.299.6 million collected by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) was used to supplement the budget for garbage collection and disposal as well as to facilitate payment for the insurance of motor vehicles (garbage trucks) instead of being surrendered to the Consolidated Fund as required by Section 4.5.8 and 4.5.9 of the FAA Act, Instructions. The necessary approval was not obtained prior to making the respective payments.

3.2.256. The Ministry indicated that since retroactive approval cannot be sought, as a measure of control to deter a repeat of this breach, the Ministry has advised all relevant Agencies that failure to surrender revenues unapproved for use as Appropriations in Aid to the Consolidated Fund, will result in the sums being recovered from their subvention. Subsequent to our report, the MLGRD deducted $9.6 million from the NSWMA’s subvention and paid over this amount the Consolidated Fund.

Permanent Secretary (current): Marsha Henry-Martin

Breach Category: Resource Management

Permanent Secretary (at breach): Marsha Henry-Martin

Breach Type: Mismanagement of Resources

Status: Progressing

Last Assessed: December 9, 2022

Year Reported: 2020

Year Resolved:

JAMP Update

Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP) sought documentation to substantiate the amount recovered and remitted by the Ministry’s for the remaining $6.699 million owed by the NSWMA to the Consolidated Fund.

On July 1, 2021 JAMP was provided with the following response:

“…The remaining S6.699M excess in A-I-A collections for the NSWMA relates to the 2015/2016 financial year, this amount was not recovered and remitted by the Ministry to the Consolidated Fund. Subsequent to recovering and remitting the sum of $9.6M which relates to the 2018/2019 financial year, the Ministry received a qualified opinion on the 2018/2019 Appropriation Accounts indicating the following:

“In an effort to correct this breach, the Ministry adjusted the accounting records and the Appropriation Account, then surrendered the 9,608,815.44 to the Consolidated Fund. This resulted in actual expenditure being understated by $9,608,815.44 for the period.”

Consequently, the Ministry will not be making any further recoveries and remittances to the Consolidated Fund in this regard. We will endeavour however, to ensure that the Agencies adhere to the Financial Administration and Audit Act in respect of acquiring the necessary approval for all revenues to be utilised as Appropriations in Aid in going forward. The Ministry has developed a system to track the A-I-A collections of its Agencies and to send out advisories requesting updated Annual AIA Projections during the third quarter of the financial year in order to determine in a timely manner whether approval would be required for additional AIA expenditure.”