Assuring that all monies spent on the Hinterland Employment and Youth Services (HEYS) programme can be properly accounted for, Junior Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Valerie Garrido-Lowe has said she has instructed the Deputy Permanent Secretary to investigate why all the progress reports were not submitted to the Audit Office for scrutiny.
“The HEYS Department has been monitoring all over the region[s], how the business is going, the amount of businesses, the state they are in plus giving courage and support so that the youths can continue,” Garrido-Lowe told Stabroek News, while noting that the ministry has photographic and video evidence to show that the monies were well spent.
In his report on the public accounts for 2017, which was recently presented to the National Assembly, Auditor General Deodat Sharma stated that the ministry could not properly account for the $865.1 million reportedly spent on this programme as well as amounts totalling $210.3 million that were released for projects in over 200 Amerindian villages.
“The Ministry did not present progress reports for these projects; therefore it could not be determined whether the funds were utilised for the intended purposes,” Sharma wrote.
When contacted by Stabroek News on the findings, Garrido-Lowe explained that every receipt and every voucher given out can be accounted for as ministry warrants the money to the regions. “So there is accountability and transparency for every transaction,” she insisted, before adding that progress reports are available and that the Permanent Secretary (PS) as ministry’s accounting officer must explain why these were not submitted. The PS is currently not at work, hence the Deputy being mandated to look into the matter. The Deputy and the internal auditor are gathering information and Garrido-Lowe said that she expected a response this week.
She explained that the ministry is placing more emphasis on monitoring and evaluation to see that monies that are extended to the villages are actually being utilised for the purposes intended. “There is accountability. Everything is right there,” she said.
The Auditor General’s report stated that the sum of $865.111 million was spent to pay the HEYS stipend to 1,900 students for the period January to December, 2017; to pay 230 HEYS staff; to cover business grants to individuals/communities to set up small projects; for the purchase of equipment and items for training; for the printing of training documents; for the launching of HEYS Phase II; and to cover meals and accommodations and travelling for the execution of the training programme.
Further, the report said that the sum of $210.331 million was spent to pay grants ranging from $500,000 to $2 million to 215 Amerindian villages to execute various projects.
