HILARY HOSIA
The first Government Employee Forum took place Monday at the International Conference Center with President Hilda Heine, Public Service Commission Chairman Donald Capelle, Chief Secretary Benjamin Graham and Auditor General Junior Patrick speaking and engaging with employees in question and answer sessions.
Deputy Chief Secretary Abacca Anjain-Maddison emceed the event, which featured the key topics facing the RMI: Agenda 2020 and government’s reform priorities by President Heine, accountability and ethics in government by Patrick, and performance in the public service by Capelle.
The event featured Q&A sessions after each topic.
During the Q&A session, Justice Carl Ingram contested the poor results from the World Bank “report card” addressed by President Heine, adding that World Bank standards compared to the local court system are different.
College of Marshall Islands Chief Financial Officer Stevenson Kotton requested the Auditor General to focus more on financial statements when conducting audit reports because other entities would show no findings, which means a great report, while their financial statements are a mess.
Kotton also recommended employees to provide asset reports so that people know how much a worker makes versus the lifestyle they live to prevent fraudulent acts.
Auditor General Patrick stressed that administration must be disciplined to lessen repeated audit findings — a case auditors find normally occurring despite auditors providing the same recommendations year after year.
“Let’s get rid of the bad apples,” Patrick said. Patrick urged leaders to lead by example and walk the talk.
Read more about this in the January 26, 2018 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.