Linton Questions Source of Funding For Rapid Response Social Recovery Agency
Opposition leader Lennox Linton wants the Rapid Response Social Recovery Agency (RRSRA) audited. He questioned how the agency obtained funds for its statutory operations considering the fact that no financial allocations were made for it in the 2019/2020 national budget.
Linton made this assertion while addressing lawmakers at the House of Assembly within the week. He stated that a budget of $13 million was assigned to the agency the other year but nothing in the recent budget, yet the agency went on to spend $32 million for its activities. He said it would be helpful to audit the accounts of the agency and to determine its sources of funding for accountability purposes.
I heard it was said and suggested in here today that when you talk about institutions like the Rapid Response Social Recovery Agency where the budget was zero, because it was transitioning over from this public support program from a budget of 13 million dollars in the previous year, nothing was budgeted for the public support program, nothing was budgeted for the Rapid Response Social Recovery Agency but it spent 32 million dollars…of the people’s money.
Lennox Linton: Opposition leader
The opposition leader said he is calling for the audit because some of the money was used for commendable projects while part of it was used for unacceptable things. He said the audit will also be helpful at determining whether money alloted for the agency is used for statutory purposes.
Meanwhile, UWP parliamentarian Senator Francisca Joseph, is making calls for the evaluation of certain social programmes embarked upon by the DLP administration. She revealed that the National Employment Programme (NEP) had never been audited for impact since its establishment, even though funds are allocated to its activities.
“Yes, we pump money into the National Employment Programme (NEP) and all these social programmes,” she quipped. “Have we had an evaluation of those programmes? It would be good if we had an impact evaluation of those programmes, Mr. Speaker, so at least we would know if the programme is meeting the targeted individuals that it is supposed to meet.”
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