Latest update March 24th, 2025 7:05 AM
Nightmarish management costing Region One millions – MP Cox
Kaieteur News – Millions of public funds are being mismanaged in Region One, Barima-Waini, Opposition Regional MP, Ronald Cox told the National Assembly on Monday.
Opposition MP, Ronal Cox
Cox was at the time making his contribution to the 2024 Budget Debates. Cox argued in his presentation that this year’s Budget is geared towards “prosperity for some” rather than ‘prosperity for all’ as the theme ‘Staying the Course: Building Prosperity for All’ suggests.
The Parliamentarian delved into the Auditor General’s most recent report for the year 2022 to point to mismanagement of resources in the Region, as he urged greater accountability of the public funds. In quoting a section of the Report, he alerted the House that the Region was flagged for breaching the provisions of Section 43 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003, when it failed at the end of the year to refund 755 cheques totalling $771.898M for the year 2022.
He noted, “As a result, the Appropriation Accounts were overstated by this amount. At the time of reporting in September 2023, fifty-four cheques totalling $72.948M had become stale dated and were still on hand.” Cox explained that the AG’s report for the Region was a nightmare; hence the villagers are not concerned about the budgetary allocation but rather the level of accountability, transparency and integrity of the government.
Citing yet another example of mismanagement of the Regional resources, the MP stated that page 199 of the Report highlights that commencement orders were not seen attached to payment vouchers, nor were they presented for the audit examination. It was therefore difficult to determine the commencement dates and thus the scheduled completion dates for the contracts he said.
In another instance, the MP pointed out that the Audit Office recommended that the Regional Administration should immediately desist from certifying payments for incomplete works with the intention to cut and hold a cheque and the Regional Administration should monitor the pace of the works closely and encourage the Contractor to expedite the completion of the works. The Auditor General also instructed that all delays should be documented and any extensions of time granted should be supported by justifications and if liable, liquidated damages should be applied to the contract.
Cox said this specific finding by the AG was linked to one contractor receiving too many contracts. He reiterated his point that the budget brings prosperity for some as he went on to note yet another finding of mismanaged resources in the Region.
“Audit examination of Payment Vouchers and supporting documents revealed that details on the signing of the Contract, Contract duration and the defects liability period could not be determined. A physical verification conducted on the 14 July 2023, discovered that the site was abandoned and the works were incomplete, while our inspections, measurements and calculations revealed an overstatement of $10.557M,” the Regional MP stated. The MP’s concern over the lack of accountability and mismanagement of millions in the Region come as the country prepares to pass its first trillion-dollar Budget with notable increase in revenues to be expended on infrastructure projects throughout the various regions.
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