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Carifesta X expenditure will be audited – Dr Anthony
Dr Frank Anthony
Culture Minister, Dr Frank Anthony says that there will be an audit of all monies expended for Carifesta X and it will be made public.
The Minister was responding to a call by Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, for an audit of the reported $500M expended on the mega event.
The AFC chair had said that the request was for the purpose of transparency.
According to Dr Anthony, all of the contracts are currently being reviewed and at the end of the audit it will be publicized.
Ramjattan had told this newspaper that in the past there have been reports of wastage, overpayments, unaccountability or some form of corruption as it relates to money spent in almost every government department.
He pointed to the recently publicized Auditor General’s report that noted wide-scale overpayments, which suggested that government ministries may not be getting value for money spent.
One such he identified as the fact that the Ministry of Education has still not resolved the issue concerning the apparent overpayment of $32M on the construction of the male dormitory at President’s College, which is engaging the attention of legal authorities.
This contract, according to the report, was awarded in the sum of $78.894M with an original completion date of December 29, 2005.
According to the report presented to the National Assembly by the Auditor General, the contingencies fund continued to be abused, with amounts drawn from the Fund being utilised to meet expenditure that did not meet the eligibility criteria as defined in the Act.
In relation to the Ministry of Home Affairs, it was noted that a quantity of arms and ammunitions to the value of $11.160M, which was paid for in 2003, has not yet been delivered, nor has the Ministry been able to recover the amount paid.
At present, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is seeking to recover several million dollars that a local company allegedly owes it for failing to provide equipment for the Carifesta X opening ceremony.
The Ministry alleges that the entity failed to provide lighting and stage gear for the ceremony, although it had been paid in advance and had signed a contract to do so.
An official from the Culture Ministry told Kaieteur News yesterday that in excess of $52M was paid to the company for the lighting and stage gear.
The official pointed out that to date no progress has been made in recovering the sum.
The issue is being dealt with by the Attorney General.
This was confirmed by Dr Anthony yesterday.
In a letter sent to the company’s Managing Director, a copy of which was obtained by Kaieteur News, a Ministry of Culture official stated that the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport had ‘extended and expended enormous support and resources’ under the contract to ensure that the company met its contract responsibilities.
The letter added that the company ‘has to make an effort to fully compensate the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in light of the breach of contract.’
The Carifesta X opening ceremony was held on August 22 last at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
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