TOO MUCH WASTE AND CORRUPTION SAYS PM GOLDING

TOO MUCH WASTE & CORRUPTION SAYS PM GOLDING

Prime Minister Bruce Golding says every effort will be made to cut out waste, corruption and stealing as too much of that is happening. He said because of these abuses the country is not getting a dollar of value for every tax dollar spent.

The Prime Minister expressed his concerns at the town hall meeting in Junction, St. Elizabeth last night at the BB Coke High school.

Citing an example of what he described as questionable returns on government expenditure , PM Golding said after the Armandale fire he had called in all the operators of both state-owned and private children's homes and had requested an audit. The audit disclosed that the private children's homes were being paid an average of $300,000 annually per child while the government-owned homes were being paid $1.1M per child. However, the children in the government-owned homes were not being given the kind of care that justified this expenditure.

‘Take a family up in Norbrook and Cherry Gardens-they are not spending $1.1-million a year on their children and yet we are spending that kind of money and our children are still not being looked after with the level of care they ought to get....'

‘We have to tighten up on that area. We run you down to take your taxes from you and so we have a responsibility to ensure that the taxes are properly spent," Mr. Golding said.