PERMANENT secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information Dr Grace McLean said yesterday that ministry officials are allowed by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service to use credit cards.

Dr McLean told journalists at yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House that a card is approved for the minister, with a monitoring system that requires that once it is used, and the bills are submitted by the minister, there is a reconciliation with the bills provided by the bank, and they are checked by the principal financial officer.

She said that the principal financial officer ensures that the limit on the card is not exceeded.

“And it is replenished based on the use, as is necessary,” said McLean, who became permanent secretary after the credit card was given to former Minister of Education, Youth and Information Ruel Reid.

A credit card, she explained, was also available for use by the minister, as well as permanent secretaries, heads of departments, chief executive officers of executive agencies and public bodies for official payments. The required reconciliation is done before approval for payments by the principal financial officer.

Dr McLean said the rules were included in Circular #11, which was issued in September 2009, and that approval for the card obtained by Reid was granted on September 29, 2016 by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

McLean was among a group of technocrats from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information who accompanied current minister responsible for the ministry, Karl Samuda, to the post cabinet meeting.

Samuda had assured Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips, and Opposition spokesman on education Ronald Thwaites in the House of Representatives on Tuesday that he would seek answers to their queries about the credit card given to Reid, which had a limit of US$3,800.

However, McLean was unable to answer additional questions from the press, as she explained that she was not the permanent secretary when the card was approved and would need to make further queries to ascertain the details before responding to any of those questions.

Samuda told reporters that he was aware that she was not the permanent secretary at the time, but had required her presence in order to explain what she knew about the issue of credit cards in the ministry and processes and system in which they were used.

A controversy over the granting of the credit card to Reid, who has faced a storm of accusations about corrupt practices within the ministry and its extensions under his watch since this year, followed the admission by Samuda in the House of Representatives on Tuesday that it was confirmed by his staff at the ministry that the former minister had been given the card. However, he was unable to give any further details about it, and assured the House that he would consult with ministry staff on the details in order to respond.

– Balford Henry