(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Mr Terrence Bastian, Auditor General of The Bahamas was on Tuesday elected as the first Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat’s Audit Committee.
The election took place at the Committee’s inaugural meeting held via video conference among its five members. The other members of the committee are: Mr Dean Evanson, Director of Audit of Antigua and Barbuda; Mr William Layne, former Permanaent Secretary, Ministry of Finance of Barbados; Ms Carol Harrison Finance Officer of Belize; and Mr Deodat Sharma Auditor General of Guyana. The Committee was established by the Secretariat with the approval of the Community Council of Ministers.
In welcoming the Committee and its Members, CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque said the Audit Committee was the latest step by the Secretariat to strengthen its governance framework. He informed the Committee that the Secretariat had introduced on an incremental basis a number of measures aimed at strengthening corporate governance within the organisation. These measures included the establishment of Internal Audit and Strategic Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation Units, Guideline and Procedures Manual with respect to Procurement and Fraud and Conflict of Interest Policies.
The Secretary-General assured the committee that it had his full support saying that “as Secretary-General, I cannot emphasise enough nor give greater assurance, of my total and unconditional support to and co-operation with this new feature of our corporate governance arrangements.” He added that he set great value and store by what the committee had been established to do and its work would give him confidence that the governance systems of the Secretariat were operating properly.
“I believe the output from your interaction with the Secretariat would serve as a useful barometer of the organisation’s health,” Ambassador LaRocque stressed.
He noted that over the past ten years the Secretariat had received generally favourable institutional assessments from the World Bank, the European Union and the Global Fund. These were conducted as a prerequisite for funding from these institutions. The Secretary-General pointed out however, that despite those conclusions “the Secretariat remains ever vigilant in order to ensure that this robust internal control framework is maintained, enhanced and adhered to faithfully.”
