And while the streets have their own sentiments about the disbursement of the US$9 million Venezuelan grant, one former senior finance technician wonders if it's breaking the rules. Dr. Carla Barnett who resigned as the Musa administration's Financial Secretary in May of last year amidst the upheavals and revelations of the Universal Health Services debacle, wrote a letter to the Amandala today questioning the propriety of the pre-election disbursement of the grant.
Citing the Finance and Audit Reform Act, she quotes the relevant section which says that additional spending on any budget item can only be 10% more than what is budgeted. So for housing loans and grants which is budgeted for less than two million dollars, the maximum that can be spent above that is around $200,000 - the Venezuela grant is $18 million. That's 900% above, when 10% is what's permitted. Dr. Barnett concludes that, "spending above the limit would appear to be in contravention of the Finance and Audit Reform Act."
