Usher Acknowledges Criticism Over Auditor General Succession Planning

It’s been three years after former Auditor General Dorothy Bradley’s retirement and the Briceño is still seeking a permanent replacement. In 2021, Bradley was reappointed on a two-year contract, but this month, a temporary auditor general was appointed to fill the role for four months. As the search for a qualified candidate continues, public backlash has mounted over the absence of a succession plan. Minister of Public Service Henry Charles Usher addresses the concerns surrounding this issue.

 

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service

“So succession planning was an issue that we found when we came into office in November of 2020. Really, many of the very important offices, did not have proper succession plans in place. So, it’s a criticism that I will accept in terms of the Auditor General’s office. What happened was that miss Dorothy Bradley retired two years ago. She was brought back on contract for two years. The contract has come to an end and she has decided not to continue in the office. Of course, I have to  Congratulate her and thank her for her years of service, not only in the Auditor General’s office but throughout the public service, she’s served in various posts. Now we’re at the point where we’re advertising for a new Auditor General. We have individuals in the office that are going to be holding over or the Deputy Auditor General is holding over for a period of four months and then we see who applies. We’re hoping that we can get the best person for this post, somebody that has the requirements, somebody has the management capacity because that Auditor General does not only mean that you have to be a good auditor. You also have to manage that office. There are various audits that’s happening throughout the government system, and this office is responsible for all of them. It’s an issue that we have been trying to resolve at the Ministry of Public Service, looking at the human resource challenges within the Office of the Auditor General. I’m not sure if they didn’t have anything at all to do. It’s very rare that a public officer has nothing to do at all. But I do believe that there could have been more tasks assigned to these individuals. And that’s why I said whoever assumes the post of Auditor General also has to be a good manager, has to be a good human resource manager in terms of being able to task out the different auditors within the office to go and do the different audits. So it is a challenge that we’ve been working from the ministry’s perspective. But, we also have to be careful not to interfere too much in the independence of that office. Because remember, that office is an independently established office under the constitution, so it’s not like we can go in and just dictate how their operations are supposed to be done. We can’t go in and tell the Auditor General’s office, oh, you have to do these audits. They have an audit plan, they carry out that audit plan, and in terms of their operational objectives, that’s something that the Auditor General herself or himself would have to do. But in terms of the issue that you raised just now, it was one that came to our attention, and we were trying to intervene, yes.”