Government
People not benefitting, Gov’t bottlenecks holding up Developmental Spending
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 9, 2023 – Each and every Government ministry should establish a new executive position, allowing for an officer to oversee that there is timely policy creation to ensure Government proposals designed to benefit the public actually come to fruition within the timeframe allotted; speaking to the vexing issue was Alvin Garland, Opposition Appointed Member to the House of Assembly.
Garland, who is the chairman of the Administration Committee which is responsible for the oversight of implementation in Government, was speaking in the House of Assembly on March 3. House of Assembly Members were debating the 3rd Supplementary Appropriations Bill which reallocated $18 million from projects that should have been completed this year.
Garland specifically mentioned the Housing policy, where some $3 million has been allocated to its initiatives in the
“This is a good and positive initiative by the government but I say the government has been slow, they could have been more forceful and progressive.”
He continued: “One of the issues with this government and previous governments is the failure to get policies in place and that is the issue that this administration is facing today- the lack of policies within the various ministries and departments,” Garland maintained.
In his State of The State address just days before Garland’s remarks, Washington Misick, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands had promised that a new delivery unit would be overseeing projects to ensure the efficient delivery of priority projects.
“Every project, every piece of legislation and every dollar spent must be guided by sound policy,
delivered on time, within budget and of maximum benefit to our people. This unit will help drive that process,” he had said.
Garland in his position as the chair of the Administration Committee, revealed that he had seen the policy issue firsthand and despite how good initiatives sounded, without policies the Government’s plans would remain stagnant with people missing out on the benefits.
The Opposition member pointed out that all Departments that had appeared before the Administration Committee explained that their policies were still in the draft form.
In addition to slowing down benefits for the people, Garland said there was ambiguity in the civil service which was resulting in confusion, describing it as an issue that needed to be fixed immediately.