EDITORIAL
The recent address to the Nation by Prime Minister Tillman Thomas has reaffirmed in our minds the deeply held belief that the two top civil servants in the Ministry of Finance, Permanent Secretary, Timothy Antoine and Accountant-General, Pat Antoine should be sent packing immediately from the job.
The impression can be formed from the address that the previous government of ex-Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell should be totally blamed for what Mr. Thomas referred to as "a major cash crunch" now facing his two-month old administration.
Yes, it is obvious that Dr. Mitchell who also held the position of Minister of Finance engaged in another of his shameless spending spree in order to seek re-election to office in the July 8 poll in which PM Thomas and his Congress grouping prevailed.
It should also be clear to any fool that the PS Finance and the Accountant General were major facilitators of Mitchell who over the years never demonstrated any form of responsible fiscal management of our economy.
GRENADA TODAY holds strongly to the view that the level of unpaid claims in the Treasury which was put at $54 million by Prime Minister Thomas is nothing but a shame and disgrace.
And this situation reflects extremely poor fiscal management in particular, poor management of Government's cash flow position by the PS in Finance and his Accountant-General.
The high and ridiculous level of unpaid claims cannot be blamed entirely on Keith Mitchell.
In fact, most of the blame for this situation has to be placed squarely at the feet of the two Antoines' in the Ministry of Finance.
As Permanent Secretary, Mr. Antoine has responsibility for the management of the Ministry of Finance and hence Government's fiscal accounts. He cannot pass that responsibility off to any other officer.
The Accountant General, though, has direct responsibility for managing the Treasury and cash flow on a daily basis.
And once the level of unpaid claims started to increase, the two top officers in the Ministry of Finance ought to have intervened and halt the process.
The two Antoines' cannot duck from that particular responsibility since there is already some precedence for this position.
This newspaper recalls that on assuming office in September 1997, the former PS and Director General in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Brian Francis, inherited a situation in which the level of unpaid claims in the Treasury stood at $42 million.
Dr. Francis immediately moved to correct the situation by taking a number of steps including writing a memorandum to all Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments informing them that the Ministry of Finance will honour no additional supplementals because of the seriousness of the cash flow problems facing the government.
This move on his part put a halt to the madness and eventually, the unpaid claims fell to within manageable levels.
In our view, over the years all the two Antoines' have done in the Ministry of Finance is to facilitate Mitchell and his cronies in dipping their hands on a continuous basis in the public purse.
As one former minister of the old regime told us a few years ago, Timothy Antoine will never tell anyone that what is being asked cannot be done since he finds a way to get it done for "the boys".
And Prime Minister Thomas' own revelation about the high spending in the debushing programme leading up to the elections pointed to additional evidence of poor management of our finances by the Antoines'.
The nation was told in the address that $19 million dollars was spent in the programme, of which $12 million was above the budgeted figure. So in effect only $7 million was really budgeted for the programme.
Clearly, that excess funding could have only been facilitated through Special Warrants/Supplementals by the Ministry of Finance.
Again, the PS in the ministry, Timothy Antoine must have endorsed these warrants since it is his responsibility to recommend same to the Minister of Finance for approval.
How can the new Minister of Finance, Nazim Burke talk about having confidence in Timothy Antoine as his PS in light of the above?
The evidence is clear that the current holder of the post demonstrated a high level of incompetence under the Mitchell reign and should make way for new blood.
Is it any wonder that Dr. Mitchell boasted that his appointment of Timothy Antoines as PS in the Ministry of Finance was the best thing that he ever did in office?
Mr. Burke and his colleagues in the NDC administration could continue to have confidence in the ability of the high ranking man in the Ministry of Finance but GRENADA TODAY has absolutely none in him.
And no amount of Œole talk' about some people in the service were weak and Mitchell exploited the situation will ever impress us.
