Lotto funds to be returned to Consolidated Fund by year end - Trotman

Lotto funds to be returned to Consolidated Fund by year end – Trotman

Jul 30, 2015 News

By Jarryl Bryan

After years of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration’s failure to include the lottery proceeds into the Consolidated Fund, Minister of Governance and Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, has said that this will change.

He said that the funds will be included in their rightful place by year end. This will be reflected in the 2016 budget. In addition to this development, he said that better systems will be put in place for state agencies to make monetary requests of the fund

Addressing a press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday, during which the Minister was asked for an update on the funds, estimated to be in the range of millions of dollars, Trotman said that this subject had been a sore one for the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) while in opposition.

The PPP/C had been placing the lottery proceeds in other accounts to meet certain expenses without parliamentary oversight, as revealed by former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran.

According to Trotman, many agencies drew on the fund for various reasons including training, traveling, and attendance of conferences. He said that the exact size of the disbursements is not known.

The Minister of Governance said that the funds should have been used for communities, aspects of sports development and the sustenance of the cultures and arts. Instead, Trotman maintained that the country did not get value for the money withdrawn. In addition, he spoke to the fact that there was a conspicuous lack of parliamentary oversight.

“While that may not be a bad way to go (state agencies benefitting), we believe that it needs some streamlining and that protocols should have been put in place in terms of how, who, when and for what purposes (the funds were drawn).”

“So individual agencies will now be making requests from the Consolidated Fund for monies to be spent, rather than just assigning their expenses to that fund.”

The lottery funds are determined by 24 cents in every dollar of lottery proceeds, going to the government. The Minister promised that following the laying of the budget, restitution of the funds would be made.

Trotman also indicated that much of the decisions regarding the Lotto Fund just required a statement and directive from the subject minister, something that has now occurred with the advent of the APNU+AFC administration.

Goolsarran had, during his tenure as Auditor General, pronounced on the matter using strong language. Prior to the coalition Government, Goolsarran stated in numerous reports that he had cause to highlight the Ministry of Finance’s failure to pay over government’s share of the proceeds of the Guyana Lotteries to the Consolidated Fund, especially in a 2003 report, when he had recommended that the Ministry of Finance take appropriate measures to close the bank account in which the Lotto monies were being held, and transfer the balance to the Consolidated Fund.

One area in which the Lotto proceeds have been plugged into over the years, is the President’s Youth Choice Initiative (PYCI), a youth project scheme started by the PPP/C administration that faced much criticism for being ill-timed and poorly executed.

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Lotto funds to be returned to Consolidated Fund by year end – Trotman

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Lotto funds to be returned to Consolidated Fund by year end – Trotman

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