The Auditor General has recommended that the Ministry of Finance take appropriate measures to transfer the operations of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) to the direct managerial control of the Customs and Trade Administration of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
According to the 2008 Auditor General’s report, although CANU was established to protect Customs revenues, the unit is not operating under the direction of the Commis-sioner of Customs and Trade Administration. “It is therefore clear that this arrangement does not provide for proper financial and administrative control, and is not in conformity with the applicable Customs Laws and Regulations,” the report said. The Head of the Budget Agency, in response, said that “a policy decision is required on this matter.”
The Auditor General noted that during 2008, $423.156 million was expended by the Finance Ministry to meet the cost of operations of CANU, the State Planning Secre-tariat, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), the Statistical Bureau and the Financial Intelligence Unit.
The report noted that “CANU is a department within the Ministry of Finance and is not a separate legal entity.” Further, it said the implications of having the operations of the Unit financed under Contributions to Local Organisations are two-fold. Firstly, the report said, “employments costs and other charges are not categorised and shown in the Appropriation Accounts in the traditional manner, which distorts the true costs in these two areas.” Secondly, it added, the arrangement “facilitates the circumvention of the application of the Government’s pay scales, as employees of these units enjoy enhanced compensation packages instead of the approved Government rates.”
While the Head of the Budget Agency indicated that a policy decision is required on the matter, the Audit Officer recommended that the Finance Ministry stop funding the operations of CANU from Subsidies and Contributions to Local Organisations and create specific programmes under the existing programme budgeting arrangements in respect of the department.
Meanwhile, the Auditor General also noted that while the State Planning Commission was dissolved several years ago and had its operations transferred to the Finance Ministry, the Commission continues to be in existence and has the status of a separate legal entity. Further, it was noted that during the period under review, the State Planning Secretariat had an actual staffing of 36 persons, 18 of whom were actually attached to the Secretariat. “The remaining eighteen officers were attached to the University of Guyana (one), Office of the President (six), and other Departments within the Ministry of Finance (eleven) although their emoluments were met from the State Planning payroll,” the report said. The last set of audited accounts of the Commission was in respect of 1991.
The Auditor General has recommended that the Finance Ministry move to formally dissolve the State Planning Commission and to ensure that financial statements for the years 1992 to 2008 are prepared and submitted for audit examination.
