NaRRA Law Contains Strong Oversight and Accountability Mechanisms – Senator

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, says the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) legislation contains strong oversight and accountability mechanisms that will guide its operations, while holding NaRRA administrators accountable and subjected to good governance.

Speaking on the Bill in the Senate on May 9, he said these are outlined in Clauses 9, 10 and 11, which address full auditing and reporting, and 17 which addresses Cabinet oversight.

“What we are proposing in the Bill, 9, 10, 11, 17 are very transparent, very professional, and thorough for oversight and for regulatory. The external auditors must submit the completed audit of the Authority within months after the end of the financial year,” Senator Hill said.

“A strong requirement to get delivery of audit reports. So, unlike the arrangement for most public companies, government agencies and ministries, where the Auditor General is generally responsible for the annual audits and may allow an independent external auditor to do the audit of a particular government entity, because of the workload of the AG (Auditor General)… this Bill codifies that both the AG and independent external auditors have access to the Authority’s books… at all times – no complaint about access and transparency and accountability here Mr. President,” he pointed out.

Senator Hill noted, too, that the audited reports and statements must be brought to Parliament.

“We have enough oversight regulators and regulations in place. They include, but are not limited to, the Cabinet, the Parliament, the various oversight committees of Parliament, and the independent auditor, the Integrity Commission,” he said.

Senator Hill said the official list on which the Minister and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will act comes from the highest executive body in the country, the Cabinet.

“There’s a lot of discussion about people having a whole heap of power, spend a whole heap of hundreds of billions of dollars, and they don’t seem to be accountable, and they’re trying to avoid accountability and transparency.

Nonsense, Mr. President. So, Section 17… in Part 3 of the Bill tells us, in Clause One, the Cabinet shall cause to be issued the official list of approved and resilient projects, strategic investment projects; it’s the Cabinet that shall cause this to be issued, the official list of the Cabinet,” he said.

The Bill was passed without amendments.

NaRRA will serve as the central coordinating authority for post-hurricane reconstruction, designed to eliminate bureaucracy, fragmentation and project delays.

It will also function as a centre of technical excellence for project preparation and delivery, ensuring that the quality of national plans matches the scale of the country’s ambitions.

Source: JIS