St. Kitts and Nevis: Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew has introduced two new significant resolutions in Parliament to strengthen the financial transparency and accountability of the twin island nation.
PM Drew confirmed that these new resolutions are designed to safeguard the financial integrity of the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis and their special Social Security System. These resolutions ensure the mismanagement of the authority will never be repeated again.
Considering this, Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew stated that the first resolution decides to suspend the external audits at the Development Bank which must be brought before Parliament, while the second resolution will require complete approval from parliament for any borrowing from Social Security.
According to PM Drew, such measures are required critically to protect the interests of the people and to maintain the confidence of public in the financial institutions.
Revelations made regarding significant financial mismanagement at the Development Bank includes the suspension of external audits from 2018 to 2019. This lack of oversight allows more than $300M to accrue the large hidden debt from public scrutiny.
He also mentioned that the external audits created a veil of secrecy due to which hundreds of millions of dollars were not managed properly. According to him, this negligence not only weakened the Development Bank but also threatened the financial stability of the Social Security System that comprises of significant loans with the country bank.
Dr. Drew further highlighted that the newly proposed resolutions are especially designed to prevent such situations from happening in the coming future. Particularly, by requiring transparency and oversight on parliament for major financial decisions.
Notably, the first resolution will ensure the subjected regular and transparent audits of the Development Bank with a purpose to suspend such audits that require parliamentary approval.
Prime Minister assured that the people of St. Kitts and Nevis will not be lied or left in dark about the true state of finances of the Development Bank. As this will make it impossible for future administrations to operate the bank secretly and mismanage the public funds without accountability.
Moreover, the second resolution will require complete approval from the parliament for borrowing any that will take place in future from the Social Security System. The main objective of such measures is to protect the pensions and benefits of the citizens. It also ensures that the Social Security funds are not misused at all.
PM Drew considers Social Security as a cornerstone for the financial security of the nation. Any decision that needs to be borrowed from it must be taken in the light of day with complete transparency and accountability.
The second resolution also ensures that the money of the public is safeguarded and that no decisions are taken without the consent of the representatives.
PM Drew also mentioned the risks that were posed by the mismanagement of Development Bank loans to Social Security that accounted for 7% to 10% of Social Security assets. He said that the previous administration recklessly handled the funds to put the entire Social Security System at risk. However, it threatened the pensions and benefits that the thousands of the citizens were receiving.