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GDF spends $3M a year repairing one vehicle
…as Audit Report flags ‘exorbitant’ maintenance costs
Kaieteur News – The record keeping and spending by the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has raised red flags at the audit office. Documented in the Auditor General’s Report for 2021, one such instance being the case of one vehicle costing the force some $3M annually for repairs.
GDF spends $3M a year repairing one vehicle
That vehicle, according to the audit findings, was purchased in 2017, under the then coalition, A Partnership for National Unity, Alliance for Change Government. According to the Auditor General, “some vehicles had relatively high maintenance costs. Noteworthy, is a Toyota Hilux 8th Gen. Pick-up acquired in May 2017, which had maintenance costs, of $2.931M and $2.650M in 2020 and 2019, respectively.”
It was noted that $336.154M was budgeted under the Line Item for Vehicle Spares and Services which was later supplemented with a further $6.8M in 2020, “resulting in a revised allotment of $342.954M. The Auditor general in pointing out that the total sum of $342.937M was expended, noted that two of the vehicles catered for under that allotment utilised some 4.9M for repairs in 2020.
Four of the GDF vehicles were repaired at costs between $1.5M and $2M, totaling some $6.7M while six other vehicles accounted for $7.3M in repairs for that year. Each of the 18 other vehicles accounted for had repairs undertaken at sums below $1M. In response, the Auditor General said, the Head of Budget Agency stated that among the Force’s fleet, are a number of aged vehicles which incur high maintenance costs due to workload and terrain conditions and that efforts are being made to dispose of these inefficient vehicles and acquire newer models.
To this end, the Audit Office once again recommended “that the Administration of the
Defence Force, assess the maintenance costs of its fleet of vehicles and equipment, with a view of disposing those that are uneconomical to maintain.”
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