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Budget cuts to Audit Office will hamper scrutiny of oil industry –Opposition Leader
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo
By Kiana Wilburg
While the Audit Office of Guyana has the independence to put together its own budget, its request for money is never granted in full.
It has been subject to several cuts in the last few years.
But Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo says that these cuts will have dire implications for the Constitutional Agency that is mandated to ensure transparency and accountability for the expenditure of tax dollars by the government.
At a press conference held yesterday, Jagdeo said that the cuts will also have implications for the Audit Office’s level of preparedness in monitoring the oil and gas sector that is notorious for corruption.
The former Head of State said, “Budget cuts would impair the Audit Office’s capability to even do the current work much less new work that is required of them because of the new oil and gas sector. So even the scrutiny that it is doing now would be impaired because they can’t do special investigations…”
In addition to this, Jagdeo said that if the government wants to make cuts then it should do so to its expenses for transportation and dietary needs which have increased by the billions since 2014. He opined that the cuts to transparency agencies like the Audit Office give an idea of what the government views as priority.
“They are ‘fat fowling’ themselves while everything else languishes.”
CUTTING CORNERS
Auditor General, Deodat Sharma has said that he finds himself between a rock and a hard place. With limited funds, he has the arduous task of clearing up ye
Auditor General Deodat Sharma
ars of unaudited statements for many statutory bodies and preparing his officers to scrutinize the ever technical oil and gas sector.
In an interview with Kaieteur News, Sharma said he is concerned about both areas and getting them done effectively but “there is only so much a little money can do.”
“Yes we have a backlog. There are a number of agencies which we still have to get to but what can I do if I don’t have all the funds? Our full budget was not approved. If I had all my funds everything would have been finished.”
Sharma was also reminded of criticisms that in his 13 years of being Auditor General, he has only conducted four performance audits. The law states that at least one is supposed to be done annually. Again, Sharma blamed the lack of funds for this. He said too, that there are some investigations which he would like to start but his officers do not have the technical expertise needed to properly report on certain matters.
As for the oil sector, the Auditor General said that he will have to make some sacrifices as he moves to sharpen the skills of his officers for the sector. He said that this industry is also one which will require performance audits.
Sharma said, “We are determined to prepare as much as possible for this sector. We need training so we can know what to look for…If you check the ExxonMobil contract, you will see that there are expenses which are allowable and others which are not…We need to know how we are to treat with such matters…We also have experts who are coming to show us all the little things we are supposed to look for …for example, they will show us the ropes about procurement tricks used by oil firms, how to know if certain vouchers are to be accepted as genuine and so forth.”
Sharma also shared that two Canadian experts will be providing tips on how the Audit Office can go about auditing ExxonMobil’s US$18M signing bonus which is being kept in a special account at Central bank.
The Auditor General added, “But all this training and so forth will require sacrifice. I will have to cut corners. I have to prepare a budget quickly and look at how many staff and I would need to work in this area.”
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