The Ministry of Agriculture has been flayed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for failing to ensure that it collected money from ex-employees who would have been overpaid and for being sloppy in its payment arrangement with the Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil) for the purchase of fuel.
Accounting Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture George Jervis yesterday appeared before the PAC, which was concerned about the answers he gave.
Jervis, who said he was not the accounting officer in 2010, old the PAC that with regard to the overpayment of persons in 2009 and 2010 amounting to $842,242, only one person had so far come forward and made a payment of $5,000. However, he said that for 2011, the ministry received more repayments and commitment of repayments from those overpaid staff members.
He was then asked how many staff members of the ministry were overpaid in 2009 and 2010. He said there were five staff members who were overpaid and that none of them were still in the employ of the ministry. Jervis noted that one of the overpaid persons subsequently found employment with the Guyana Police Force and the ministry wrote to the force to inquire about the prospects of withdrawing the sums owed from the person’s salary. He said that the ministry is yet to receive a response from the Guyana Police Force on this proposal.
Incensed by this response, PPP/C member of the PAC Bibi Shadick said there were measures that could be put in place to ensure that the new employer deducted the owed sum from the salary of an individual. She said one of these measures is the securing of a court order for the purpose.
Jervis said some persons were paying back amounts to the tune of $10,000 per month. However, he said, one person owes in excess of $300,000 and is currently out of the jurisdiction. Jervis said however that the person has indicated his intention to return to Guyana to address the outstanding balances. Jervis said the need to have a clearance of some documentation from the Ministry of Agriculture may be what would have prompted this former staff member to endeavour to clear his debts.
Jervis, when asked whether there was any system implemented to prevent a reoccurrence, said the ministry has put in place stop orders on salaries of persons who fail to show up for work after three days without the presentation of a medical certificate.
Meanwhile, as regards the payment for fuel, former chairman of the PAC Volda Lawrence of APNU asked whether the ministry purchases on a credit basis and Jervis replied in the negative.
“No we don’t. We pay in advance and draw down on the fuel,” he said.
He said the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) had an emergency situation with regard to flood and as a result it had no choice but to take fuel from Guyoil and then pay for it later.
In response to the AG Report, the Ministry of Agriculture said that the amount owed to GuyOil by the NDIA as at December 31, 2010 was $66,721,210 and this represented supplies for the months of November and December 2010. “Of this amount, cheques totalling $48,937,796 were drawn on December 31, 2010 and paid to Guyoil in January 2011. The remaining balance of $17,783,414 was subsequently paid in 2011 from approval granted by the Ministry of Finance for multi-year contract,” the response said. It added that strict control over the acquisition of fuel has always been maintained and monthly reconciliation with the supplier is being pursued.
Acting Auditor General Deodat Sharma said that the NDIA was not accounting for monies allocated to it as it should.
However, Jervis said that while the NDIA will arrange every aspect of the spending activity except the actual writing of cheques. He said that the Ministry of Agriculture has been trying to find staff for the NDIA but to no avail and hence the continued reliance on the ministry’s accounting system. Lawrence said that from 2005 to 2010 the NDIA has not submitted any financial statements.
PAC Chairman Carl Greenidge presided over the sitting.
