Delay in activities, underspending could see overrun in criminal justice system programme

Dec 02, 2018 Peeping Tom

A US$8M ‘Support for the Criminal Justice System Programme’ is likely to exceed its intended deadline due to delays in the timely execution of activities and underspending, says the 2017 Auditor General Report.
According to the Auditor General Report, on February 21, 2017, the government and the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) entered into an agreement which saw the bank lending US$8M, to contribute to the financing and execution of the programme.
The Project Execution Plan outlines that total of US$706,000 was allocated for the period under review. Only US$102,859 was expended on operational activities. The programme commenced from the date of the agreement and is to be executed within five years and six months, bringing it to an end on August 20, 2022.
“The project is subject to separate reporting and audit and according to the financial statement of the project as at December 31, 2017, the project expended sums totalling US$102,859 for the payment of salary/gratuity, office furniture, office equipment, supplies, and advertisement cost.”
The Auditor General Report highlighted, “It is also noted that the delay in the timely execution of the programme’s activities and spending of 15% of the allocated resources could result in the programme not achieving its objectives and an overrun of the life of the programme.”
Responding the Ministry of Legal Affairs explained that the project commenced in June 2017, and that the programme team and IDB representatives reviewed the results matrices because activities planned for the six months’ period and budgets at US$706,000 were not realistic and needed realignment.
“The activities were then adjusted and the budget was revised. This should result in the normalization of the programme spending by the end of 2019 and the project life within the stipulated time frame,” the Ministry added.
The Auditor General’s Report outlined that the objectives of the ‘Support for the Criminal Justice System Programme’ are to contribute to the reduction of high concentration of the prison population, and also to reduce the proportion of inmates who are pre-trial detainees.
It is also intended to increase the use of alternative sentencing.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News