PHOTO: (L-R) Def. Min. Geraldine George, Veteran Bureau D G Jackson Morlu
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The Minister of National Defense has officially requested the General Auditing Commission to launch an audit for former and the interim leaderships of the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs.
Minister Geraldine George, who is the Chairperson of the Board of Director at the bureau, disclosed that her decision followed many complaints that the Ministry of National Defense have received about salaries and other logistics missing at the bureau.
Minister George made the disclosure when she paid her first official visit to the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs in Congo Town during the weekend.
According to her, there are too mush complaints coming against the human resource director, who headed the interim leadership, during the transitional period.
The National Defense Minister added that she has also received complaint about several items given the bureau including tractor and other items that have disappeared.
She mandated the new leadership of the National Bureau for Veteran Affairs to ensure that it conduct a complete muster of the veteran population throughout the country and the Ministry of National Defense will shoulder the expenses.
Meanwhile, the Minister of National Defense is recommending the review of the act establishing the National Bureau of Veterans Affairs and re-establish its organization chart in order to clearly spell out the function of each position.
According to Minister George, the bureau needs to be expanded to including the Department of the Reserve Officer Training Course, the Agricultural Department and functionaries in order to meet modern reality.
The minister also added that she will be holding meeting Retired Colonel Augustine Nagbe popularly known as General Power, who is currently running the National Rehabilitation for War and Drug Person to vacate the offices that have been given to the bureau at the star base on the Bushrod Island.
In a related story, the National Bureau for Veteran Affairs has appealed to the Board of Directors and the Ministry of National Defense for assistance in order to make the entity functional and operational.
The bureau’s Director General, Jackson Morlu, disclosed that the entity is only allotted 15,000 United States Dollars for good and services and 100 United States Dollars for lubrication.
Speaking during a visit of the Minister of National Defense, Geraldine George, to the National Bureau for Veteran Affairs in Congo Town on Friday, Mr. Morlu pointed out that the bureau wants to conduct a survey of the number of veterans in the country but lacks the funding.
According to Mr. Morlu, the bureau also wants to renovate its offices given them on the Star Base on the Bushrod Island in order to relocate there.
He also claimed that he is facing some stiff reluctance from the interim leadership that ran the bureau for almost two years because he has been given the entire payroll of the entity since they heard that the minister was visiting the bureau.
The visit of the Defense Minister to the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs is the first of this kind since the establishment of the establishment of this entity a little over 20 years now.