-2008 report presented to Speaker

Continued abuse of the Contingency Fund, overpayment of contractors and flouting of the requirement to present log books and vouchers are among the main issues highlighted in the 2008 Auditor General Report, Acting Auditor General Deodat Sharma says.

Sharma also noted that the report on the accounts of Ministries, Departments and Regions also addresses Procurement problems in Region 4 and the $300 million fraud at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). Sharma said that from the report, it is recommended that the Finance Secretary issue a financial circular on the Procurement Act and the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, to offer guidance to officials.

On the positive side, Sharma noted that there have been improvements by some Ministries and agencies in relation to their contractual arrangements and that there have not been “so many” cases of contractors being overpaid for projects.  He, however, attributed this to the engineers that his office sends out to examine these projects.

The Acting Auditor General, yesterday, handed over this report to Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran during a simple ceremony held at Parliament Buildings. The handing-over ceremony was attended by members of the Public Accounts Committee and staffers of the Audit Office.

After receiving the report, Ramkarran acknowledged the document’s importance in providing Guyana with information regarding how taxpayers’ dollars are being spent. Noting the relationship between the Auditor General’s report and the Public Accounts Committee, Ramkarran said that “the Auditor General and the Public Accounts Committee are the “guardians of our resources” and called for greater encouragement to be shown to them.   He also called for more resources to be poured into all Parliamentary committees specifically the critical ones such as the Public Accounts Committee.

The Speaker, while noting that the Audit Office was behind schedule in terms of producing the Auditor General’s reports, expressed optimism that this will soon be corrected given the new interventions being put in place at the Office.

Sharma, in his presentation, stated his intention to have the 2009 Report presented by the statutory deadline of September, 30, 2010. Sharma disclosed that last year the staff of the Audit Office was boosted by the recruitment of an additional 28 persons.

This increases the total work force to 138 persons, 117 of whom are technical staffers.  According to Sharma, a further 15 persons are expected to be recruited during this year as the Office seeks to reach its full complement of workers by the end of 2012 in keeping with its Strategic Development Plan.

He noted that “with the assistance granted via a technical cooperation agreement signed in September 2007 between the IDB and the government”, three new Units were established within the Audit Office. These are the Performance/Value for Money Audit (VFM), Forensic Audit and Quality Assurance Audit. He noted that since then several officers have been trained in these areas.

Two audits are currently being undertaken, the Acting Auditor General said. These are “A Review of the Old Age Pension Benefits in Guyana” and an “Audit of the Procurement Activities in Guyana”.

The 2008 Auditor General Report is expected to be tabled at the next sitting of the National Assembly.