But accountant Diane de Garis said that while she would support States chief executive Boley Smillie’s push to get to the bottom of the failings, she wanted to see accountability within the public sector for £24m. spent on far from functional technology for the Revenue Service, and the £18m. spent on what appears to be nothing at all on the MyGov project.
‘We’re angry and frustrated it’s got this far, and I’m furious at the waste of money,’ she said.
‘But Boley Smillie is a breath of fresh air.
‘We’ve finally got someone talking to us like adults and agreeing that it isn’t fit for purpose. He’s owning it, and that’s the right thing to do.
‘So I think we’re in the most hopeful place we’ve been – but I’ve been in business now since 2014, and it [dealing with the Revenue Service] has been painful the whole time.’
The president of the Scrutiny Management Committee has also called for accountability in the fallout of the money wasted.
Deputy Andy Sloan said that he had not yet discussed the revelations of money wasted with his committee, but said that personally he wanted to know where the buck stopped over it.
‘We have project after project, review after review, where that is never the case,’ he said. ‘We cannot continue to squander millions of taxpayers’ funds on incompetence and inefficiency.’
Deputy Sloan said that States treasury lead Deputy Gavin St Pier had reassured him that there would be accountability on the project.
Former States IT contractor Agilisys, which was sacked from its £200m. 10-year contract with the States this summer, said that the findings of this year’s Scrutiny Management Review on the operation of the project was reinforced by the revelations over the losses.
A spokesman said that internal failings within the States meant that the programmes ‘had a limited chance of ultimate success’.
‘The review makes clear that the fundamental challenges affecting both MyGov and the Revenue Service lie in programme design, scope and internal oversight within the States of Guernsey, rather than being attributable to delivery alone.’
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