Nedd was questioned about the findings of the 2010 Auditor General’s report at yesterday’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), whose members were puzzled about why there was such a difficulty in retrieving monies overpaid to teachers.
The Auditor General’s report said that for the period under review, a total of 65 transactions related to pay change directives for resignations, retirements, dismissals and maternity leave transactions for five account areas were examined. For the period 2001 to 2010, there had been some $36.4 million owed by teachers.
However, the report said that for the years 2001 to 2006, there are no records of deductions made to recoup the owed amounts.
In response, the ministry said that it had been making robust efforts to recover the previous years’ outstanding overpaid salaries and deductions.
It noted that it was compiling a list of names and last known addresses of guilty teachers and public officers, with the intention of publishing those details as a means to recovering these overpaid salaries.
Most of the persons would have been overpaid by an average of one month, Nedd said at the PAC meeting in the parliamentary chamber. In response, to queries from committee members, she explained that it is difficult to track down persons once they would have been paid because of a deficient system. She spoke of a software programme that the ministry is to implement with a view to curbing this problem. She said too that in addition to the software, there would be stricter monitoring.
However, members of the committee, including its Chairman Carl Greenidge, were unconvinced as to how this will bring improvement to what currently obtains.
APNU member Jaipaul Sharma said that there are various ways in which the ministry could recoup the monies.
However, Nedd said it is difficult to find some of the teachers, much less to get back the money from them. She said calls to those persons go unanswered and they cannot be found at the addresses provided.
PPP/C member Odinga Lumumba grilled Nedd about the kind of system she has in place at the ministry. He concluded that it was an issue of poor management and that she needed to have someone who could be responsible for knowing on demand the status of teachers in the system.
Former chairman of the PAC Volda Lawrence expressed dismay that until now, police reports have not been completed for many investigations, rendering it impossible to close outstanding matters.
The PAC strongly admonished the ministry for lapses in contracts entered into, which would expose the ministry to financial risk should contractors renege on agreements.
Auditor General Deodat Sharma said he will not be addressing the missing years of 2001 to 2006 in his report for 2012. “I will not be including this in my next [report]…we will have to [address] 2006 and onwards,” he noted. But, he added, the amounts in question cannot be written off just like that, until the matters are concluded.
The Auditor General had recommended in the report that the head of that agency take immediate steps to institutionalise the use of standard bidding documents of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board while ensuring all contracts or agreements to not in any way compromise the interests of the Government of Guyana.
The ministry said that it has since enforced this recommendation.
PPP/C member Gail Teixeira said, with regard to the many instances of overpayment and other discrepancies cited in the examination of agencies, Cabinet has taken a decision to surcharge persons signing off on works that are deficient. “We cannot be paying for things that are not even done,” Teixeira said.
