PPP/C, PNC repeatedly ignore remedies to fix flagrant financial violations

Dec 16, 2021 News

…in many instances, recommendations are repeated each year without appropriate action and as a result, weaknesses and issues that impacted negatively on Government’s governance and accountability mechanisms continue to occur,” AG Deodat Sharma

…Auditor General concerned as 62% of recommendations not implemented

Kaieteur News – The Audit Office of Guyana is headed by Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, who heads the team responsible for scrutinizing the expenditure of public funds on behalf of Parliament.The Office conducts annually, financial audits of all publicly-funded entities, donor-funded entities, local government agencies and trade unions, in Guyana.

Auditor General, Deodat Sharma

In his 2020 report, covering a period when the ‘purse strings’ were presided over by both, the coalition A Partnership for National Unity, Alliance for Change (APNU) administration and the People’s Progressive Party Civic government, Sharma found that 62 percent of his recommendations to remedy the repeated financial violations committed over the years, have not been implemented.
According to the Auditor General in his latest report, “each year, my Office issues recommendations to Ministries, Departments and Regions that are designed at improving systems and practices at these entities and improving the Government’s governance and accountability mechanisms.”
To this end, he observes that for his 2019 report, 645 recommendations had been presented to the administration. In the 2020 report, Sharma found that, having reviewed each recommendation to determine what action, if any, was taken by the respective Accounting Officers, “62 percent of the recommendations have not yet been fully implemented.”

Additionally, he said, “in many instances, recommendations are repeated each year without appropriate action and as a result, weaknesses and issues that impacted negatively on Government’s governance and accountability mechanisms continue to occur.”
As such, Sharma in his report, once again, encouraged “the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General’s Department and the respective Heads of Budget Agencies to take appropriate actions and put measures in place to address these recommendations.”
According to the Auditor General in his 2020 Report, at the time of reporting in September this year, only 243 or 38 percent of his Office’s recommendations were fully implemented, 161 or 25 percent were partially implemented, while 241 or 37 percent were not implemented.
Among some of the violations highlighted by the Auditor General in the 2020 report, Sharma said that during the period under review, and based on the sample of projects examined, it was discovered that five contracts totaling $1.6B were terminated as a result of poor performance by the contractors.
These included an amount of $826.8M for the construction of Yarrowkabra Secondary School, for which a contract was signed since 2019, while the sum of $412.3B was for the contract for construction of St. Roses Secondary School, which was signed in 2018.
Meanwhile, the sum of $321.9M was for the contract for Ministry of Health’s Head Office Building Phase 1, which was signed in 2017, and the sums of $10.8M and $8.3M were for Construction of Revetment at Riverstown Creek and Upgrading of Brummel Street respectively, which were both signed in 2020.
Another violation observed by the Auditor General relate to a contract in the sum of $13.1M which was awarded by the Ministerial Tender Board of the Ministry of Agriculture for Repairs to the Storage Bond at the Hydro-meteorological Service. “It was discovered that a completely new storage bond structure was constructed using funds allocated under 6242 – Maintenance of Buildings – despite these construction works being capital in nature.”
This practice was observed, not only at that Budget Agency, since according to the Auditor General, a contract for Corrective Maintenance Works on Building at Canal №. 1 Nursery School was awarded for the sum of $3.9M. However, it was discovered that a new reinforced concrete sanitary block was constructed under this contract utilising funds allocated under the fund for ‘Maintenance of Buildings.’
Under the Guyana Police Force, a contract to the value of $4,801,253 was awarded by the
Ministerial Tender Board for the construction of an Extension of Guyana Police Force’s Finance
Department. These works were also paid for using funds allocated under the budgetary line item that caters for ‘Maintenance of Buildings’—all in breach of the financial regulations of the country.
Over payments on Contracts to contractors were also some of the breaches highlighted by the Auditor General. Other violation red flags highlighted by the Auditor General in his 2020 report include Un-presented Payment Vouchers, undelivered items that had been procured, such as drugs and medical supplies, inadequate checks and balance systems, sole sourcing and balances and overpayments to contractors among other violations.