Though locals are preferred, the government of Guyana is actively considering hiring foreign prosecutors to assist in the prosecution of cases which may arise from the more that 50 audits instituted under the new administration.
President David Granger, responding to questions on last week’s edition of “The Public Interest”, said, “We have already considered recruiting and employing additional prosecutors. We realize that there may be resource problems within the police force. We are intent on having more trained investigators. Whether they come from abroad I cannot confirm now, I prefer to have Guyanese investigators who are competent and honest. I don’t have a hang-up about foreigners, it is being actively considered but I will go local first. We have also considered hiring person who are retired. Guyanese are asked to retire at a ridiculously young age so those retirees who have proven competent and honest will be employed,” the President said.
Since coming into office last May, the APNU+AFC government has commissioned several forensic audits to review the performance and efficiency of publicly-owned entities, statutory bodies and projects and activities financed by or through public funds. Most of the audits have been completed, Jordan told the National Assembly during his budget presentation last month.
“A preliminary analysis indicates that in a number of cases, there were acts of dishonesty and duplicity, mismanagement of resources, opaqueness of transactions and a disregard for basic internal controls, among others,” he said while adding that this was compounded by the absence or non-existence of functioning internal audit departments.
“The Audits identified many instances where the laws governing the entities and their operations were violated with impunity, in particular the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and the Procurement Act,” Jordan declared.
Among the entities that were audited were the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Guyana Gold Board (GCB) and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL). According to information released to the National Assembly these audits have cost the government in excess of $133 million.
