The GSD have issued a statement questioning why GHA accounts were delayed.

A statement from the GSD follows below:

On 15 July, the Government thanked the new Principal Auditor for correcting an “inaccurate statement” in the 2018/19 Report that the audited accounts of the GHA for 2014 and 2015 had not been laid in Parliament by the time the previous Auditor concluded his Report. What the Government’s reaction fails to address are the reasons behind the accounts being 10 years delayed, and why the Minister for Health took over 6 months after they had been certified to lay those reports in Parliament.

Joelle Ladislaus said, “The Government have wasted no time in pointing out an inaccuracy in the latest Principal Auditor’s report as to when the GHA’s audited accounts for 2014 and 2015 were tabled in Parliament by the Minister; it’s unfortunate that the same speed doesn’t apply to providing the public with that information.

The reality is that the Reports of the Principal Auditor on the GHA’s accounts for 2014 and 2015 were certified by the former Principal Auditor on 14 November 2024, he then wrote to the GHA’s Director General on 3 May 2025 as a reminder to inform the Minister for Health to “have the 2 sets of GHA accounts tabled in Parliament at the earliest opportunity” (also at p141, paragraph 4.1.17 of the Auditor’s report). They were finally tabled on 21 May 2025- 6 months after they had been certified, 10 years after they were due and, coincidentally, just 10 days before the Principal Auditor certified his report. The Minister for Health’s pressing need to correct the record is clearly more important to the Government than the reasons why Principal Auditor’s reports are delayed for years, time and time again. It’s time for less footnotes and more accountability”