The Public Accounts Committee has released their 4th report on the Auditor General's report and has scrutinized certain sections involving 13 ministries and departments.
Concentrating on the area of Public Sector Reform, the Committee has noted that the commencement of the downsizing of the civil service by 10% is having a negative impact on the maintenance and delivery of service in some areas.
As a result, the Committee recommends that special attention needs to be given to critical areas to ensure continuity of delivery in terms of application of law, revenue collection, quality, cost effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility.
On the issue of border control, the committee believes that more funds, adequate staff and new technologies at all Ports of Entries would minimize illegal arrivals and give correct data of all arrivals and departures.
The committee says that because of the non-availability of funds and manpower, the Immigration Department was unable to accommodate the security and records of all visitors to Fiji and the collection of arrival documents have not been adequately monitored.
Out of 66 pending Audited Reports, the Public Accounts Committee has completed and submitted to the President eight volumes of reports.
