P.S.U. says No Less Than $250K for New Auditor General

The search is on for a new auditor general, and the Public Service Union is demanding that adequate compensation be afforded to the successor of the post. In 2021, the government explained the challenges they encountered while attempting to source a replacement auditor general after Dororthy Bradley’s retirement. Subsequently, Bradley was reappointed under a two-year contract which expired on August thirty-first of this year. President of the PSU, Dean Flowers maintains that unless the government increases the salary and staff for the post, Belize will never be able to fill the position with a qualified individual. Here’s what Flowers had to say.

 

Dean Flowers, President, P.S.U.

“It is important that we ensure that no other head of department who does not have the requisite skill set is transferred over to be an Auditor General. But that this administration at least demonstrates to the Belizean people that they are serious about good governance.  And it starts with ensuring that the search for an Auditor General, which should have started two years ago, A person is taken seriously, and that the newly appointed is properly compensated. We would have complained about the quality of justices that we were getting in the judicial system. Immediately, the Belizean people were told you have to pay a chief justice. quarter of a million dollars to ensure that we get  better people in the judiciary. And so we’ve seen those salaries gone up.  What more office should be better and highly compensated than the Auditor General post?  Compared to a two billion budget,  quarter million for an Auditor General is really immaterial .And so I would hope  that the government of Belize Will ensure that the salary  for the Arta general  is increased to ensure that we get  a suitable, qualified and an experienced person, whether from Belize or within CARICOM, but we need somebody with competency who can transform that department and properly train the public officers in there  because even that.Leaves a lot to be desired, believes, needs to now  transcend or move into producing financial statements that are internationally recognized public sector accounting.”