Finance Minister gets “lean and mean” with travel allowances for Ministers, other officials

Aug 09, 2015 News

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“So let’s say you get US$150 as an official but you went to Barbados and you got a room by the beach for US$100 then you have to bring the bill for the US$100 and give back the US$50. If you didn’t bring the bill you will be worse off because you then have to pay 60 percent of US$150. So things are getting tighter.”

 

By Kiana Wilburg
Improving accountability and eliminating the wastage of taxpayers’ monies by public officials seem to be priority for Finance Minister, Winston Jordan as he has implemented some new guidelines for the allowances government ministers and other officials are entitled to when they travel abroad for State business.

The Minister made his position on the matter pellucid during a press conference held at the Ministry of Finance on Friday.
The Finance Minister explained that when the People’s Progressive Party entered office in 1992, it changed the allowance rates to suit the expenses of travel to various places. He explained, for example, that the cost to travel to Europe is more than the airfare for a Caribbean territory.
He then shared with the media, a document which showed the rates existing as of May 18, 1993.  It showed that when a Minister who was considered a Category A person, was travelling to the Caribbean or North America, he or she would receive a travel allowance of US$200 per night for hotel accommodation while the allowance for travel to Europe was US$250.
Officials, who fell into the Category B status such as Permanent Secretaries and a similar level, received US$150 if they were travelling to North America and US$200 if they were going to Europe.
The Finance Minister continued, “Other things you would get would be the US$25 out-of-pocket allowance. Both categories also received US$100 for meals. So a Minister going to North America was given US$200 plus US$100 for meals plus the US$25 out-of-pocket allowance which gives a total of US$325. An official going the same way receives a total of US$275.”
Considering the challenges he is now facing because of weak systems that existed before to ensure accountability for travel allowances, the Minister said that some adjustments were made.
He said that Government has taken the decision to discontinue the practice of signing on a statement in lieu of presentation of bills. He explained that in the past, officials could have simply affixed their signature on a statement saying that the money was spent and the advance would have been cleared without having to produce a bill. Jordan said that this has ceased.
“If you do not bring the bills or part of the bills to substantiate your expenditure, you will be required to repay up to 60 percent of the advance…contrary to what people believe that we are raiding the Treasury, we are actually tightening up,” Minister Jordan said.
He explained that the allowance rates for travel for ministers and officials have been adjusted in some regard.
Jordan said that officials such as Vice Presidents and the Speaker of the National Assembly would be given a travel allowance of US$275 if they are going to a Caribbean Territory. If they are going to Europe, they would be given US$350 per night.  He noted that the out of pocket allowance and the allocation for meals remain the same.
He said that for officials who fall into Category C such as Permanent Secretaries will receive US$175 if they are going to the Caribbean and US$250 if they are travelling to Europe or Asia.
The Finance Minister said, “I can tell you how mean we got so far. We broke the US$100 into three parts; US$25 for breakfast, US$35 for lunch, US$40 for dinner. The practice used to be that some people would claim the entire US$100 for the day even while they are flying in the air. If you are flying from USA to China, it is about 16 hours or so nonstop and by the time you reach there the day has gone and so some used to claim meals for that. So we have now tightened up.”
Jordan continued, “Lots of people were saying we were being mean by not giving them money to travel in country so what we were saying is that for transportation in the host country you can get US$25 to go and come from meetings and you get departure tax out of Guyana in the sum of $4000…”
The Finance Minister said that these changes were made due to the fact that his ministry has considerable problems trying to recover advances for travel in the past.
“So to avoid this in future about clearing, we have done two things, the first being that we have discontinued the practice of signing on a statement in lieu of presentation of bills. Secondly if you don’t bring bills or part of this to substantiate your expenditure you will be required to repay 60 percent of the advance. These have been put in place since June 16,” he said.
The Finance Minister concluded, “So let’s say you get US$150 as an official but you went to Barbados and you got a room by the beach for US$100 then you have to bring the bill for the US$100 and give back the US$50. If you didn’t bring the bill you will be worse off because you then have to pay 60 percent of US$150 .So things are getting tighter.”

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