NDIA failed to meet full staff complement over last four years

Nov 10, 2025 News

(Kaieteur News) – A performance audit conducted into the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) for the period January 2021-June 2024 showed that the authority failed to meet the full complement of staff in order to ensure its efficient functioning.

The report which was tabled in the National Assembly at the convening of the 13th Parliament showed that the NDIA should have a properly staffed operational management structure, ensuring that effective drainage and irrigation services are received by citizens, while the authority’s goals and objectives are achieved.

“A continuous shortage of staff and key positions remained vacant. The NDIA organisational structure has 16 departments, 11 of which are operational. To effectively manage these departments, the government has approved and authorised a staff strength of 173 employees for each year during the period under review. The authorised staff strength was distributed as shown in the following table,” the report said.

For the period under review, the NDIA was not operating at its full staff capacity, as there were over 30 positions remaining vacant for each year, additionally as the years went by the number of vacancies steadily increased.

“Additionally, the positions of Chief Executive Officer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Secretary/Legal Officer, Manager of Operations and Maintenance, Mechanical Engineers, Internal Auditor, and Engineering Technicians were vacant as of September 2024,” the report said.

As a result of the consistent rise in the number of vacancies as well as the extended absence of key personnel gaps in the asset management process. The unfilled positions also resulted in increased workload for the existing staff, delays in the execution of projects in addition to challenges would have been created in the maintenance of the quality of services that were provided to stakeholders, the report stated.

The authority’s ability to properly manage its assets and achieve objectives effectively and efficiently were adversely affected.

In this light, “The audit office recommends that the authority takes the necessary steps (a) to determine its human resources needs against the organisational objectives and (b) promptly fill existing vacancies to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.”

The authority’s management in its response said that it is aware of its institutional needs and fill continue to fill the vacant positions.

Another issue the audit flagged was that of staff training needs not being assessed.

“Training needs assessment in an organisation is necessary, since training can be aligned with its goals and objectives. Additionally, competencies’ gaps will be identified to facilitate relevant training, which will enhance staff knowledge and skills. Therefore, the authority should have conducted training needs assessments to plan for training accordingly,” it said.

In spite of this, it was revealed during interviews conducted with the authority’s human resources department that neither staff training needs assessments nor training sessions were conducted.

In addition, there was also no evidence that any training plan or programme was developed to demonstrate that there was continuous training considered for staff, to allow them to maintain as well as enhance their competencies in carrying out their tasks.

“The authority’s failure to establish a training plan to improve staff knowledge and skills can result in loss of productivity, an increase in accidents and/ or errors, and a lack of innovation. Further, staff will be lacking the necessary skills to adjust to new technologies and trends,” the report stated.

In its recommendation, the audit office said that the management of the authority should assess the knowledge and skills of staff to identify competency gaps and plan appropriate training to bridge those gaps.

In response, the management of the NDIA said that the authority acknowledges the findings and it has a “performance appraisal system that evaluates staff performance as part of the staff development process and training needs will be identified.”

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13th Parliament, Audit, NDIA, staff

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