Army pays $298M in electricity bills, register accounts for only $180M

Dec 23, 2021 News

…Auditor General unable to verify unaccounted millions

Kaieteur News – The Auditor General’s Report for 2020 has highlighted a number of glaring deficiencies in the processes used by various government agencies in the accounting of its allocated funds annually through their respective budgets.

Army pays $298M in electricity bills, register accounts for only $180M

Among the red flags highlighted by the Auditor General in his scrutiny of the financial records for the Guyana Defence Force was its payment for utilities for which in excess of $100M could not be accounted for.
The Audit Report documented that for 2020, amounts totalling $331.816M were expended under this account area, however, a Utility Register was not maintained for telephone charges. It was noted that a print-out of telephone numbers and amounts paid were placed in file jackets on a monthly basis, “thus, verification was a tedious and time consuming process.”
Further, a comparison of the payments with the Electricity and Water Charges Registers revealed differences. “As a result, we could not determine consumption as per account.”
According to the Audit Office, while it was reflected as payments in the sum of 298.4M for electricity, the register could only account for 180.6M.
As such, some $117.7 said to be payments made for electricity, could not be verified.
This situation also obtained with, payments made for water. The Audit Office said, while $42.5M was said to be spent for payments, the register detailed $37.1M, meaning an excess of $5M for water charges could not be accounted for. It was noted that the GDF’s response to the query was that the Utility Register for Telephone Charges was previously maintained; however, since GTT ceased to provide paper bills and is now submitting statement of accounts, the register was discontinued. However, this anomaly was noted, and steps have been taken to correct this deficiency. The Audit Office has since recommended that the Administration of the Defence Force ensure its Utility Registers are properly maintained, including the recording of all pertinent information.