In a damning report into the management and handling of taxpayers’ money at Nutrition Products Limited (NPL), Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis found that as of August 2017 the public body employed a human resources manager which had only six subjects within the company. GCE level.
The auditor general said the position required a bachelor of science degree in social sciences and at least six years of professional experience at a middle or senior management level.
The report, which covers the period 2015 to 2021, was tabled in Parliament this afternoon.
In a performance report of the agency, Monroe Ellis revealed that the entity’s recruitment and selection process was not always in compliance with its employment and recruitment policy and circulars issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Civil Service.
The auditor general reviewed the recruitment process for 12 executives and found the agency failed to advertise vacancies for five positions to ensure the most qualified people were selected for the positions.
In eight cases, the public body employed people who did not have the minimum qualifications or experience required for the positions.
The Auditor General reported that the human resources manager remained in the position until March 31, 2020 and allegedly presided over the process of hiring others who also did not have the required qualifications and experience.
Additionally, the agency applied payment terms to 13 individuals in a manner contrary to civil service personnel orders, resulting in $4.1 million in unauthorized payments in December 2020.
Four of these individuals were hired at higher grades on the salary scale, without any evidence of the particular circumstances that would have influenced his decisions or the approval of the board of directors or the Ministry of Finance.
This resulted in unauthorized payments totaling $1 million as of December 2020.
Monroe Ellis indicated that with the exception of the general manager and the distribution supervisor, who subsequently met the minimum qualifications for the respective positions, the others, at the time of the audit, did not hold the academic qualifications required for the positions.
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