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Forensic audit to be done on $1B ‘clean up my community’ programme
By Jarryl Bryan
Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan has promised that a forensic audit will soon be conducted into
Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan
the $1B ‘clean up my country’ programme which was launched last year under the previous administration.
The reason for this, according to the Minister, is due to evidence pointing to the mismanagement of the allocated funds by the previous Local Government and Regional Development Ministry.
According to Bulkan, the central Government had granted the allocation without meaningful consultation with the municipalities, something Bulkan has long spoken out against.
Bulkan went on to note that taxpayers did not get value for their money out of this initiative and that the new administration would do things differently, with regard to holding meaningful consultations with the municipalities.
He also pledged the full backing of the present central Government for municipalities in initiatives meant to improve the state of the communities.
The former administration had touted the $1B initiative as an effort that would have resulted in the capital city, as well as other towns, and rural villages implementing a ‘Clean Up My Community’ action plan.
Under the initiative, $500 million was proposed to be spent on the capital city, while the rest was to be granted to various regional bodies, towards the same goal. The plan was to facilitate the collection and removal of garbage as well as the reporting of residents who irresponsibly disposed their garbage. Citizens, businesses and institutions were also tasked with ensuring that their garbage was properly discarded in the appropriate receptacles.
The $1B allocation, as well as the other capital and current expenditures, was
Flooding in downtown Georgetown yesterday after a few hours of rain.
approved by the Parliamentary Supply Committee.
During the course of the six-month campaign, in which areas such as Le Repentir Cemetery were tackled, with very little rainfall still responsible for heavy flooding in the city, a situation that was evident as recent as yesterday.
To date, there has been little accounting from the Government for how the $1B was utilized, since parliament was subsequently prorogued on November 10th by former President Donald Ramotar.
Since the election of the new Government, President David Granger and his respective ministers have promised to conduct several audits into controversial projects.
In the latest of such proposed reviews, Finance Minister Winston Jordan has promised a forensic audit into the Petrocaribe fund, in view of the “secrecy” that enshrouded the deal under the previous administration.
The Petrocaribe deal was an alliance of several Caribbean member states, including Guyana to purchase oil from Venezuela on the conditions of preferential payment. The payment system allowed for the purchase of oil at a market value for five percent to 50 percent up front, with a grace period of one to two years. The remainder could have been paid through a 17-25 year financing agreement with one percent interest if oil prices are above US$40 per barrel. In return, Guyana had agreed to supply rice, as well as using some of the outstanding oil monies to pay local farmers.
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