Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis - file photo
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Pamela Monroe Ellis and MP Heroy Clarke
There were tense moments during Tuesday's sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis came under pressure to explain her absence from key meetings related to an audit of her department.
The audit was done between July and September 2019, but Mrs Monroe Ellis was absent from both the entrance and exit meetings with internal auditors from the Ministry of Finance.
She was questioned by government MP Heroy Clarke about her absence and explained that she did not attend the entrance meeting because she was overseas doing an audit of the Canadian farm work programme.
She could not explain why she did not attend the exit meeting but insisted her absence from the exit interview "in no way detracts from the responses that were provided."
"Whether I was at the exit interview or not, if I'm not able to attend, I have the authority as head of the organisation to delegate that to another officer. The Director of Corporate Services was there," she explained.
The Auditor General's responses incensed Mr. Clarke, who continued to question whether it was "personal matters or government matters" why she missed the exit meeting.
But Mrs Monroe Ellis was adamant that she "can't be forced to provide an answer that I don't know...because I wasn't not expecting to be asked whether I was at a meeting or not."
Mr. Clarke, thinking her response to be out of line, declared: "Mr. Chairman, there is no way the Auditor General, as the Auditor General for the country of Jamaica, is telling me, a member of the PAC, an arm of the parliament of Jamaica, that she cannot be forced."
The Auditor General later committed to checking to see why she was not available for the meeting.
Mr. Clarke was still not satisfied, but government MP Franklin Witter intervened to urge an end to that line of questioning while the committee awaits the Auditor General's checks.
The 2019 audit unearthed several breaches by the Auditor General's Department, which is tasked with auditing the appropriation accounts of ministries, departments, and agencies.
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