KINGSTON, Jamaica — People’s National Party’s (PNP) spokesman on transport and works, Mikael Phillips, says the Government should create an emergency rescue plan for the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) in the wake of the latest performance audit which has revealed glaring human resource and other breaches at the State-run entity.

Among the interventions proposed, is to assign responsibility for the JUTC to the finance ministry “to strengthen and realign the massive financial and human-resource problems and promote a new era of accountability and efficiency.”

 According to Phillips, Prime Minister Andrew Holness should intervene immediately as “the Auditor General’s Performance Audit Report indicates imminent disaster and possible closure.”

In a statement today, Phillips said he was shocked, but not surprised at the level of breaches recited in the report.

“The audit found weaknesses in the JUTC’s governance practices and internal control environment, which were manifested by a lack of financial transparency, breaches of the human resources policy, minimal adherence to Government rules and regulations, including procurement law,” the spokesman noted.

He conceded that while all the breaches referred to in the report cannot be blamed on the present management, Minister of Transport and Mining Robert Montague should account for the breaches that have occurred under his watch.

“The performance audit is an indictment of the ministry, the board of directors and the executive management of the company. The portfolio ministry is deficient in its oversight responsibilities, particularly the PBMA (Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act) and the corporate governance framework, and the management was ineffective and sloppy in implementing strategies to improve operational efficiency and financial viability,” Phillips charged.