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Financial Commissioner Courtney Williams confirmed yesterday The Gleaners Since taking office on May 1 last year, his salary for the eight-month period from May 1, 2023 to December 2023 has been “deferred”.
Senate Opposition Business Leader Peter Bunting revealed yesterday that House Speaker Juliet Holness, who chairs the parliamentary committee that advises the Treasury Commissioner on pay, had sought advice from Attorney-General Derrick McKoy about when Williams would start receiving his salary.
An insider revealed The Gleaners The Speaker wanted to know whether Williams’ salary should be calculated from when he was appointed by the Governor General last May, or from when he agreed to accept the salary package offered to him on December 6, 2023.
It was revealed that the Speaker wanted McCoy to give his opinion on whether Williams should be paid the eight months’ salary in the absence of evidence that the Finance Commissioner had been performing his duties since his appointment on May 1 last year.
Williams told The Gleaners Yesterday, he had been performing the duties of the Finance Commissioner since his appointment last year.
“I am a long-serving civil servant. Even though the matter is still pending, it has not stopped us from doing our work,” he said.
The Attorney General, it was reliably informed, suggested that Williams should be paid his salary and remuneration from the date of his appointment as the Finance Commissioner.
Bunting raised the issue in the Senate yesterday, noting that Williams, a long-time public servant who previously served as permanent secretary at the Department of National Security, was being paid less than in his previous position.
Williams confirmed The Gleaners Yesterday he had been in “conversations” with a parliamentary committee chaired by Speaker Holness to determine his pay package.
Asked what he thought about not being paid for eight months, Williams said: “No one is going to accept not getting paid for work that has been done.”
Williams said that as a public servant, he had to adjust his spending during the period when he was not paid.
Bunting highlighted the issue while participating in the debate on the Financial Management and Audit (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
The bill seeks to amend the Financial Management and Audit Act to establish the National Natural Disaster Reserve Fund (NNDRF). The Financial Commissioner plays a role in the allocation of NNDRF funds.
The senior opposition MP argued that the amended law would increase the responsibilities of the Finance Commissioner, whose “salary is left hanging in the balance”.
“We had several negotiations, but we ended up with an unusual situation where the finance commissioner himself was in a cash-strapped situation where he didn’t get any salary from May 1 to December,” Bunting said.
Political Views
Senate President Tom Tavares Finson later confirmed that the Speaker sent letters to the Attorney General on January 22, 2024 and April 30, 2024, asking for opinions on the remuneration of the Finance Commissioner. He said the Attorney General responded and gave his opinions on June 6 this year.
“The parliamentary committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 17 at 4pm,” he told senators.
“Senator Bunting believed the Speaker was unwilling to share the Attorney General’s opinion. In fact, that opinion was communicated to all members of the committee, including the Senate Leader of Government Business and the Leader of the Senate Opposition,” he said.
Tavares-Finson said the same sentiment was expressed by government and opposition leaders in the House of Representatives and the finance minister.
Government business leader Kamina Johnson-Smith said she was “disappointed that information that was shared so confidentially among committee members could, in this case, be used to try to score some political points today”.
She believes that the public should not have doubts about the actions taken by the Speaker.
“I want to commend the finance commissioners who have been appointed and are working so hard,” she said.
Johnson Smith, who presided over the Financial Management and Audit (Amendment) Bill, 2024, said the bill provides that funds in the NNDRF can be used to respond to disasters that severely affect the economy and cause a loss of 1.5% or more of GDP.
She noted that the NNDRF was not intended to replace or supersede the role of the National Disaster Fund, which was established under the Disaster Risk Management Act to support disaster risk reduction and preparedness efforts, as well as support rapid and early response and recovery to disasters.
The provision establishing the NNDRF is related to Section 48 C 2 of the Financial Management and Audit Act, which allows for the suspension of fiscal rules in certain circumstances.
The NNDRF will be funded from the Consolidated Fund, which received $200 million in fiscal year 2023-2024 and $1.2 billion in the current fiscal year. Approximately $400 million will be allocated to the fund in subsequent years.
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