Don’t blame the premier alone – Walwyn

Minister of Education Myron Walwyn thinks persons are unfairly casting all blame on Premier and Minister of Finance Dr D Orlando Smith for the fact that no audited financial report had been presented to the House of Assembly in the last 10 years.

He suggested that persons at the Ministry of Finance should also be blamed.

Walwyn said the financial secretary and permanent secretaries are the key persons in the ministries – not the respective ministers.

“The key is the permanent secretary, the financial secretary, and those persons in the system.”

“So to come and make it look as if the minister of finance is the one that’s totally responsible – he going to sit down and write the report, no, it’s not that way. We have to look a little deeper in the system…” Walwyn recently said in the House of Assembly.

He continued: “To make it look as if the minister of finance is supposed to be the one writing the reports and he didn’t write them is false. We shouldn’t do that.”

Walwyn also suggested that some improvements be undertaken in the public service, but he did not give specifics.

“One of the things that we’ve got to be truthful about is that we have to make some improvement in the public service in some areas; we have to make some improvements; there is no question about that.”

“The way our system of government is designed, there are no positive qualifications to run for office. There are some negative qualifications – you shouldn’t have done [certain things]. But you are not required to have a Master’s Degree, a Bachelor’s Degree – nothing at all.”

“What that means is that the system pre-supposes that, notwithstanding your educational level, you can still become a minister. Once you become a member of the House, you can become a minister of government whether you have a degree or not. The system, is designed that way,” the minister further said.