Dear Editor,
On July 4 a letter was published in the Stabroek News, which noted that the Guyana Audit Office “hosted a team of two from the Audit Office of Newfoundland and Labrador (AONL) with which the Guyana Audit Office claims a ‘twinning partnership.’ The website of the AONL indicates no such partnership” (‘Canadian auditor’s suggestion that Sharma be appointed Auditor General was tantamount to improper interference in Guyana’s affairs’). The letter also noted that persons “who attended a workshop conducted by the two visitors from Canada [indicated] that one of them actually sought to advance the case for the confirmation of Mr Sharma who for seven years could not be substantively appointed because of lack of qualifications.”
Disturbed (I have since seen the letter and queries circulating on social media networks), I immediately wrote the following letter to the Auditor-General’s office for Newfoundland and Labrador for a response; one week later I am yet to receive a response. I would be grateful if you could publish it in your newspaper; perhaps the Canadian High Commission might prompt the relevant officials to provide a response not to me but to the Guyanese public, certainly deserving of some clarification:
“Dear Members of the Auditor-General’s office for Newfoundland and Labrador,
This morning I came across a news story that was quite concerning to me, particularly given what it seems to suggest about visitors who appear to have come from your Audit Office, and their remarks over a controversial matter that has been of concern to members of the Guyanese public for some time. At the very least, this letter casts some serious doubt on the impartiality of your office with regard to this reported workshop. It raises serious questions about the appropriateness of officials from Newfoundland and Labrador intervening to take a position on a matter over which arguably the Newfoundland and Labrador Office has no authority. How are members of the Guyanese or Canadian public to interpret this intervention, if correctly reported? The letter suggests that those statements would have been made by one of the two individuals from Canada. One can only assume that they were acting in their official capacity as it appears that this was an official workshop between the two offices.
“I would be most grateful if you could provide me with more information about this workshop, and also offer any clarification on the points raised in this letter that was circulated in today’s [July 4] newspaper in Guyana, not only in the country itself but also widely across the diaspora. It does not look good. And if indeed those statements were made and stand as the official position of your office in relation to the Guyanese audit office, I would be grateful if you could offer a statement that clarified this position to the Guyanese public, as well as provide us with your reasons for such a statement on a very important and sensitive matter.
“Thanking you in advance…”
Yours faithfully,
Alissa Trotz
