An abomination for an Auditor General report

Oct 24, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
The report of the Auditor General on the public accounts of Guyana was tabled in the National Assembly on Monday. In a country with weak accounting and accountability, an Access to Freedom Act that has not been brought into force, an Integrity Commission without Commissioners, no Public Procurement Commission, no anti-corruption or whistleblowers legislation, the report by the Auditor General – if its Executive Summary is an indication of its contents – is striking for its sterility.
A comparison of the 2011 Executive Summary is an almost identical reproduction of the 2010 report.

2011 2010

No of paragraphs 14 16

Issues addressed

Contingencies Fund      ü   ü
Contingent Liabilities                                                                               ü   ü
Bank Accounts ü   ü
IFMAS and resulting effect ü   ü
Accounting for gifts      ü   ü
Key findings

Overpayment to contractors          ü
Clearing of cheque ordered Vouchers        ü   ü
Overpayment of salaries to staff and deductions to Agencies       ü   ü
Overstatement of Appropriation Accounts       ü   ü
Compliance with Stores Regulations                                                 ü   ü
Late remittance to Overseas Missions    ü   ü
Procurement of Drugs – Ministry of Health      ü
Procurement of Drugs – Georgetown Public Hospital Corp.           ü
Procurement of Text Books – Ministry of Education          ü
Irregularity Relating to payment of Pensions and Gratuities       ü

Other specific findings
Guyana Stores        ü   ü
Public Procurement Commission                                                        ü   ü
Stale-dated cheques       ü

Note that 2011 was a less effective audit than 2010 which in any case was itself not a good audit: it ignored the armies of contract employees, the off-constitution spending by that abomination called NICIL, slush funds across ministries and including the dormant accounts, the loan recovery unit, the National Frequency Management Unit.
The problem we face is an unqualified acting Auditor General who plays to his master’s voice in order to retain one of the most lucrative employment contracts in Guyana. If we need any proof of this we need go no further than the clandestine attempt to lay a path for confirmation.
If that happens, if we think the 2011 audit is poor, we have not seen anything yet.
Christopher Ram