Latest update January 11th, 2025 4:10 AM
Latest News
- Govt, US-Exim Bank sign US$527 million for GTE project
- Rystad Energy issues misleading analysis on Guyana’s share from ExxonMobil contract
- Deaths from Israeli attacks in Gaza undercounted by 41 percent, study finds
- PNC calls for doubling of minimum wage, tax free threshold to be increased to $400,000 monthly
- Pensioner dies at CJIA while waiting to board flight to New York
AFC wants audit of COVID-19 cash grant
Kaieteur News- Alliance For Change (AFC) leader, Khemraj Ramjattan believes that the recent distribution of a $25,000 payout to households across the country as part of government’s relief efforts in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic is fraught with corruption.
As such, Ramjattan would like to see an audit be conducted into the cash payout and other spending by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration after it took office.
“I certainly would like to see evaluation audits done,” Ramjattan told members of the local media corps this past week, during a party Press engagement.
Ramjattan additionally pointed to the purchase of two tractors by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) that were bought at $72M each.
AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan
Taking this into account, Ramjattan told media operatives that he has since directed that the matter be raised at the level of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly.
The party’s General Secretary, David Patterson, in his remarks reminded that he too would have called for a value money audit on the COVID-19 relief.
He was quick to point out al
The Covid-19 $25,000 cash grant distribution clerks with police escort during the recent relief exercise.
so that “it’s not just a question of checking where the money is going; it’s a question of having an audit of the system used to distribute the money.”
Patterson qualified his position by pointing out that his party is in receipt of several complaints across the administrative regions, which point to different measures being used for varying communities.
Patterson cited as an example, reports that persons in some communities were able to collect the cash grant by simply pointing out where they live while others were made to provide supporting documents.
He reminded nonetheless that an audit would have to be undertaken in any event, since it would be done under the Auditor General’s annual audit of government’s financial revenue and expenditure.
Patterson indicated however that an assessment of the relief package must be subjected to not only a value for money audit but a managerial audit “that can be done now.”
He noted too that it was not just a matter of uncovering wrongdoings but an attempt to identify weaknesses in the system.
This he said is crucial since the government intends to bring a second round of COVID-19 relief funding.
According to the AFC General Secretary, “it’s important that we have an audit to see what and what was done.”
According to Patterson, such audits could unearth acts of discrimination that had occurred in order to remedy the situation moving forward.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Dem signs need calibrating
Dem Boys Seh… Kaieteur News- Dem boys bin pass one of dem fancy speed meter signs wah de guvament put up fuh tell drivers... more
Forget Begging Rich Nations: Caribbean Countries Should Act to Save Themselves
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- It has long been evident that the world’s richest nations, especially those responsible... more
Weekend Cartoon
