The Auditor General of Barbados has no website or other effective means of distributing copies of his Annual Report to the citizens of Barbados. Further, his staffers demand that citizens provide their names when requesting copies of the Auditor General’s reports…
“I need your name in order to provide you with a copy of the Annual Report.”
… A secretary at the office of Mr. Hallam Phillips, the Auditor General of Barbados, speaking with a Barbados Free Press Reporter last week.
Bajans Must Beg For An Auditor General Report – Citizens of Trinidad Can Download Theirs
It seems that Mr. Phillips requires ordinary Bajans to beg on their knees for a single copy of his Annual Report – unless they are one of the elites who are “entitled” to see his audit of how our monies are spent.
Tell us, Mr. Phillips… If you so tightly control the distribution of your reports, and have no transparency or public communications in your own operations, just how are we citizens to know that you are not merely acting as the Government’s lapdog?
And why the requirement for citizens to provide their names before your office condescends to part with a single copy of your report? Does your staff then provide the names to the government?
“Here, Mr. Prime Minister, are the names of those troublemakers who dared to ask for a copy of the Report of the Auditor General of Barbados.”
Barbados Auditor General – No Website
Other than online Constitutional references to the Auditor General of Barbados, the only A/G web presence is a simple telephone and address entry in the general government list posted here…
Mr. Hallam Phillips (Auditor General)
Auditor General Department
Weymouth Corporate Centre,
Roebuck Street, Bridgetown
426-2537
That’s it – the sole online presence for the Auditor General of Barbados!
If there is a budgetary problem that is preventing the Auditor General of Barbados from having a website, perhaps he should contact Caribbean WebMasters Inc, who have promised to host his website for 20% off their normal $69.95 rate. (And if that is just too much, he could try GoDaddy in the USA for US$10 a month.)
We would even be happy to loan give the ten bucks to the Auditor General if things are really that bad financially.
Auditor General of Trinidad & Tobago
Contrast the situation in Barbados with the openess and sense of purpose of the Auditor General of Trinidad & Tobago. Here is the T & T Auditor General’s website…
If you want a copy of the current or a past Annual Report – no problem, just download it. Wondering about the mission or responsibilities of the Auditor General? Who is on staff and their backgrounds? How and when audits are performed? Organizational charts? Legal Authorities? Special Investigations?
No problem: everything is online for viewing by anyone.
Here is the Mission Statement of the Auditor General of Trinidad & Tobago.
Auditor General of Trinidad & Tobago
Our Mission
To meet the constitutional requirement to contribute to transparency and accountability in the use of the State’s resources through the conduct of independent audits and to report on a timely basis thereon to Parliament and other stakeholders.
Our Vision
An independently constituted and highly respected Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) dedicated to protecting and safeguarding the public interest by fulfilling its statutory obligation. This would be achieved by a motivated team of multi-disciplined, well-trained and well-equipped officers who continuously provide total quality service to all clients and stakeholders.
Filed under Barbados, Crime & Law, Politics & Corruption
