Friday’s release of the disturbing findings of the forensic audit into the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) coincided with the deepening of floods in Mahaica-Berbice as a result of heavy rainfall in the Mahaicony watershed and on the coast. It was a double blow for an agency which has the cavernous mandate of ensuring that D&I issues are adequately addressed throughout the country.
First, the flooding. It is indisputable that the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas will face the consistent threat of flooding as there is inadequate drainage infrastructure and the originally planned phases two and three of the MMA scheme no longer seem to be possible. However, that does not mean that the authorities are bereft of options to improve the drainage situation. At Trafalgar, one of the villages hard-hit by the flooding, the woeful tale of Guyana plays out. Two giant pumps which could have helped to alleviate the inundation lay silent. They had apparently been vandalised two years ago and nothing had been done to restore them. Nestled between them, a pump of very limited capacity was trying to expel as much of the floodwater as it could, a Herculean task because of the clogged intake canal and silted up outfall. Communities all along the Mahaicony Creek have also been severely flooded and the authorities seem to have been caught off guard.
The upshot from this bout of flooding is that a year into its tenure, the APNU+AFC administration is still to come to grips with how to effectively manage its D&I challenges. Earlier this year, in the same region, there was a shortage of water because of the prolonged El Niño. A few months later, it was the heavy rain. Trafalgar, the storied history of its name notwithstanding, has been an epicentre of flood trauma. For years the Trafalgar pump station has been in and out of service with residents lamenting that the authorities needed to do maintenance and to take preventative measures. These warnings have continued to fall on deaf ears and this year, in the midst of flooding upstream of the Mahaicony combined with rain, two giant pumps are silent and helpless sentinels. Was the Ministry of Agriculture aware of this and if so what steps did it take? In yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, the head of the NDIA, Mr Frederick Flatts said that the want of $40m was standing in the way of rehabilitation of the Trafalgar pumps. This is disconcerting when one considers how much money was made available for the Jubilee celebration and the enormous amounts of money that the NDIA has handled in recent years.
Particularly since the Great Flood of 2005, there has been a great premium on ensuring that drainage infrastructure is in optimal condition and primed to work whenever the flooding arrives. This was not the case at Trafalgar when Stabroek News visited on Friday. Residents lamented their plight noting that the two pumps were not in service and vegetation clogged key waterways leading to the facility. Admittedly, the government inherited the same faltering bureaucracy at the NDIA. This did not, however, mean that the Ministry of Agriculture which has line responsibility could not have exercised greater oversight of the NDIA and insist on better management of its D&I assets.
There was also little sign on Friday of any official interest in the flooding of the West Berbice villages and the Mahaicony Creek. Villagers could not recount sightings of persons in authority trying to alleviate their plight despite the fact that the authorities had known for several days that deep flooding in the upper reaches of the Mahaicony in particular posed an imminent danger to downstream communities. How did Central Government co-ordinate with the local government tiers on this matter, if at all? A statement was only issued by the government on this flooding on Saturday evening.
While the Civil Defence Commission is known to receive much assistance from donors and undertakes training and simulations, did it advise itself of the need to reconnoitre the situation in West Berbice or was it awaiting a signal from some listless bureaucrat? It would be instructive for central government, local government and the NDIA to undertake an examination of the state of all drainage infrastructure in the flooded villages and examine their outfalls for siltation. It could make very interesting reading.
Now for the forensic audit of the NDIA. The audit by Nigel Hinds Financial Services has found a litany of excesses and the absence of important controls. One of the most serious concerns raised was the lack of an assets register. In a response on Saturday to the findings, the Head of the NDIA at the time, Mr Lionel Wordsworth sought to dispute the claim that there was no asset register and cited the relatively recent detaching of the NDIA from the Ministry of Agriculture as a factor in whatever deficiencies existed.
As was noted in the audit report, the matter of the asset register had also been raised in annual reports of the Auditor General. If the asset register for an agency handling billions of dollars’ worth of equipment is in such a dubious state as to be commented on so trenchantly by the audit there must be a major problem. Deficiencies like those create the foundation for unaccountability and loopholes for all types of malpractices. One would have hoped that the interregnum between the delivery of the audit report to the government and its release to the public was used to rectify the deficiencies in the asset register. The Ministry of Agriculture/NDIA should make a statement on this and what will be done to ensure that the register is kept in order.
The auditor also raised grave concerns about the expenditure of $1.8b over three years on repairs and maintenance even though many new vehicles had been acquired during the said period. Again on Saturday, Mr Wordsworth played down these concerns by stating that some of the expenditures occurred in other areas and the amount was less than the audit report indicated. The ease with which the NDIA sought recourse to private contractors for repairs and maintenance has been a longstanding problem across government agencies. There is room to consider again whether the government should invest in capacity such as the previous Plant Maintenance and Hire Division rather than have to rely solely on private contractors. The NDIA should also be made to defend each and every such expenditure and to present the relevant paper work.
Other serious infractions have been raised in the audit report including lax arrangements for fuel acquisition, the purchase of equipment for the use of the troubled GuySuCo and attempts to understate the cost of the long-delayed Hope Canal.
The gross deficiencies found in the audit report should lead to an immediate and comprehensive revamping of the NDIA so its accountability is beyond reproach and it is in a better position to respond to flood problems such as those currently besetting West Berbice and the Mahaicony Creek.
