Former Region Five REO ‘wanted’ by PAC

Mar 22, 2022 News

– Committee seeks answers for financial irregularities

Former REO of Region Five, Ovid Morrison.

Kaieteur News – Former Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Five, Ovid Morrison, is wanted by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to provide answers in relations to the financial irregularities found in the 2017 and 2018 audit reports.
Morrison, who is said to have been out of the jurisdiction, was the REO for Region Five under the previous A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government.
During the PAC meeting on Monday, it was noted that when the former REO was in place, there were issues over the misuse of budgeted funds for payment of staff as well as prepayment for water and other services.
An audit examination of the payroll for January to December 2017 revealed that amounts totalling $4.425M were paid to 58 contracted employees of which 16 are eligible to be transferred to the pensionable establishment.
Further, it was noted that the Regional Administration continued to hire employees on a contractual basis with 14 such persons being offered employment during 2017.
In addition, some $1.477 billion was budgeted for employment costs for a staff complement of 1,071. As of 31 December, 2018, however, amounts totalling $1.474 billion were expended which meant that there was an issue of over-budgeting for staff.
The Regional Administration of Region Five, led by the current REO, Genevieve Blackman, made an appearance before the PAC on Monday, but the team could not provide clarity to several financial irregularities flagged by the Auditor General in the 2017 and 2018 audits.
Blackman told the PAC that she could not answer several of the questions put to her since she was not the REO during 2017 and 2018. She noted too that she was given the courtesy of a proper hand over from the previous REO Morrison. As such, Blackman diverted several questions to the Audit Office representatives present at the meeting.
When the answers seem unsatisfactory, Members of Parliament (MPs) spent several minutes in a debate over the inability of the Region Five REO to respond to questions.
Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill told the Committee that he believes that enough was not done to make contact with the previous REO. Blackman had explained that based on information from the Police Commissioner, Morrison was not in the jurisdiction between November and December 2021.
The REO could not give an update about the current whereabouts of Morrison, as no further efforts were made to determine this.
As such, members of the Committee, including Edghill, said they do not believe that it was logical to have questions posed when the current REO could not answer.
Towards the end of the meeting, APNU+AFC MP Ganesh Mahipaul, who was chairing the meeting at the time, explained that the regional administration would be given more time to meet with the Auditor General, the Accountant General and the Finance Secretary so that the PAC can be accurately informed.
Mahipaul said it is hoped that at the next PAC meeting with the Region Five Administration, the team would be in a better position to respond to questions, and the previous REO would be helpful to the process.

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