Above: The office of Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe (centre) has launched a programme aimed at strengthening management of government assets

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti’s Office of Human Resources Management launched a training seminar this week aimed at improving the management of state assets by public officials.

The office, which is an organ of Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe’s office, is training approximately 70 public officials in Haiti who have responsibilities in taking inventory and accounting.

The four-day programme began Monday at the Hotel Montana. It is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank.

“Officials responsible for managing the inventory of state property in various institutions should be able, after the training sessions, to save in inventory records and evaluate the assets held by the respective governmental entities, according to prescribed standards,” said Antoine Uder, the general coordinator of the Office of Human Resources Management.

Antoine said the goal was for the officials to be able to ensure regular transmission of the inventory data required by the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes, a body authorized by Haiti’s constitution.

Herold Etienne, director-general of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said he believed the programme was in line with what officials have already begun doing in his Ministry with respect to the reporting of government accounts.

Earlier this summer, Haiti’s government launched an initiative to improve the management of public purchases, also financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, with support from the Organization of American States.