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By B. Chen-Fruean
Samoa News Correspondent
Territorial Homeland Security Advisor Leiataua Birdsall Ala'ilima has urged ASG Treasurer Velega Savali to restore funding to a federal grant that Leiataua claims was wrongfully used to pay several employees of the Territorial Emergency Management Coordinating Office (TEMCO).
The grant is called the Emergency Management Planning Grant (EMPG). According to a Dec. 13 letter from Leiataua to Velega, several TEMCO employees being funded by the FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program account have been paid under the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) FY 2006 EMPG funding.
Leiataua said that under grant conditions, the types of charges by the employees doesn't qualify under EMPG. The charges total a little over $16,300 and the direct payment vouchers were issued to Lucy Silafau ($4,627.40), Anthony Hisatake ($4,804), Oloalilo Sunia ($3,651.04), and Cyrus Paopao ($3,230.40).
All the invoices were dated Nov. 3, 2006 with voucher descriptions denoting "service rendered," all of which were signed by the TEMCO director Fa'amausili Pola.
The TOHS head said the transactions are unauthorized because they have not gone through the review process established by the "In Lieu of High Risk" agreement with DHS Grants and Training (G&T) Preparedness Directorate.
He said Treasury and Budget staff managing TOHS accounts are fully cognizant of the agreement in place as these pre-approval control procedures have been in use successfully since February of this year.
"The repercussions of this action will definitely impact all DHS accounts," Leiataua told Velega. "ASG will be in direct violation of its agreement with DHS and the immediate lock down of all DHS funds can be an expected result."
Leiataua said the TOHS program recently concluded two audits "and it would be devastating setback to put all the positive effort the ASG response community has made to date in jeopardy as a result of such as thoughtless action."
Documents attached to Leiataua's letter show that the Budget Office stamp and an approval signature are evident on all four vouchers, which all show an approval date of Nov. 11, 2006.
"I am very disappointed in the fact that financial mismanagement of the TEMCO/PDM program has put TOHS programs in peril and feel Treasury needs to address key systemic issues of audit findings that include adherence to lines of authority over expenditure of federal grant funds," Leiataua wrote.
"As head of the State Administrative Agency (SAA) for Homeland Security funds, it is my fiduciary responsibility to the Governor and the American Samoa Government to bring this issue to your attention, and request that you take immediate corrective action and keep me advised," Leiataua said.
In a letter dated yesterday, Velega said the government's grant analyst is processing the paperwork directly and added that the course of action taken regarding this matter was relayed to Pola during a meeting on Dec. 12. That meeting included the Lt. Governor, TEMCO director and representatives, and Treasury grants staff.
He said after consulting with the grants manager, "I would like to assure you that the matter of the four employees' charges is being addressed."
According to Velega, the grants analyst is processing the appropriate paperwork directly. "I regard this matter addressed and closed effective immediately," Velega wrote, adding that all future inquiries or requests pertaining to this and/or similar matters are to be referred to the Lt. Governor.
Over a telephone interview with the Samoa News yesterday, Velega explained that the issue with paychecks for TEMCO employees has been an ongoing debate, referring to some of the employees who went as far as complaining to the Fono and its leaders about not being paid.
Velega explained, "In that situation, I told the disgruntled employees to come in and explain to me what happened. I don't want to deny people their paychecks because we can get sued for not paying people for services rendered."
Velega said he proposed to seek out ways to pay those people, and he wanted to pay them for the hours they worked, before letting them go. "I had to seek out an account where money can be drawn to pay these people and offer them a final paycheck before terminating them."
Meanwhile, the direct payment vouchers only say that they were prepared by AH, but do not state how many hours or days the employees are getting paid for.
Reach the reporter at blue@samoanews.com.
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