Government in a surprise move yesterday confirmed Deodat Sharma to the post of Auditor General; he had been acting in the position for last seven years.
Sharma was confirmed to the post by President Donald Ramotar during a simple ceremony at the Office of the President.
Members of the media were only informed of the swearing-in ceremony when they turned up for a 9 am weekly post-cabinet press briefing with Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon. The latter event was delayed to allow the president to administer the oath of office to Sharma. Sharma’s wife and children along with Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh were present.
The media were not given an opportunity to ask the Auditor General any questions.
In brief remarks after the ceremony, Ramotar said Sharma has been acting in that position for a while. “He has already demonstrated that he is doing his work without fear or favour and I expect that he continues in the same vein and hopefully with his oversight that our public accounts will improve.”
Sharma said he was happy that the government had placed confidence in the Audit Office. “I am thankful not for myself alone but the staff in the Audit Office because without their help I could not have brought the accounts up to date for the last three years.”
He said it was important that there be a substantive Auditor General and added that some ministers have said that they use the Auditor General’s Report as a management tool.
The confirmation came amid growing pressure for an adequately qualified Auditor General to be appointed to the post and in the backdrop of Sharma approaching the mandatory public service retirement age of 55. He is 54. If he had not been confirmed he would have had to retire shortly.
His confirmation means he could potentially stay on as Auditor General until the age of 65. The government had not moved over the last seven years to find a suitably qualified candidate as it appeared very comfortable with Sharma.
Former auditor general Anand Goolsarran had said earlier this month that Sharma could not continue to act in the position until age 65 and must demit office at either age 55 or 60. Goolsarran explained that for a substantive Auditor General, the age of retirement is 65. But for an acting Auditor General, the age of retirement is 55. Sharma was appointed acting Auditor General after the departure of Goolsarran from the post.
There had been discussions over whether Sharma was qualified to hold that post. Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram had said that he was not qualified to be in the position.
In a letter in this newspaper recently, Ram said Sharma did not have the qualifications to be the Auditor General and that he has to rely on the wife of the Minister of Finance “who is responsible for the country’s public finances generally and solely responsible for the Contingencies Fund.”
Sharma’s latest annual report on the Public Accounts of Guyana has been criticized as being soft on the government and not tackling serious issues.
Sources said the government confirmed Sharma as it wanted to avoid the dilemma that would be posed if the next senior-most employee of the Auditor General’s Office is appointed to the top position. That employee is the wife of the Minister of Finance and though there have been complaints for several years over the conflict of interest posed by her present role at the office, were she to accede to the top post there would be no question that either she or the Minister of Finance would have to stand down.
