The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has called on the Guyana Prison Service to review how dietary products are supplied so as to avoid delivery delays.
Director of Prisons Welton Trotz, during questioning by the PAC on Thursday over the prison service waiting for months to reconcile dietary supply statements, said invoices are handed in late as there are problems with the suppliers who fail to deliver on invoiced items.
He explained that when a company is awarded the tender to supply the prison with dietary supplies that company is paid in advance, but many times would not deliver all of the requested goods.
This did not go down well with PAC members who urged that a review be done so that contractors are not given all their monies in advance. “You need to find a mechanism to deal with it to see what can be done to expedite the process… I would expect when persons bid for a contract they have some capital to invest…,” PPP/C member of the PAC Bibi Shadick told Trotz.
PAC Chairman, APNU MP Carl Greenidge pointed out that mechanisms should be put in place to deal with suppliers who claim shortage of a particular product as the reason for long delays. “If the supplier is unable to get your sago within two weeks then you can tell him to source cornmeal or something else,” Greenidge said.
Trotz said that currently the system is being looked at and he promised that the advice given will be taken seriously.
Last year, the prisons spent $275 million feeding prisoners. That came from $245 million allocated in last year’s budget, plus a $30 million supplementary given in December.
Meanwhile Trotz, admitting that the current system is lax, also promised to review how data pertaining to fuel used for the prison vehicles is recorded.
The PAC pointed out that fuel obtained from the Guyana Oil Company was not recorded in the prisons’ log books and queried this.
“There has been some lapse by drivers and supervisors to show the journeys…,” Trotz said. “I would have to take the flak for that… It’s a lapse and we have to ensure the supervisors are dealt with.”
Committee members advised that the mechanism implemented ensure that persons distributing and collecting the fuel give signatures to the transactions.
