The Ministry of Finance yesterday rejected allegations by Chairman of Region 10, Renis Morian, that it was not releasing funds for an agricultural project for the region.
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, said that not only is the Chairman wrong about not getting funds but he seems to not be in touch with the developments in his region, as monies allocated for the year have not been touched as yet.
“My people tells me it totally and absolutely false information he has and he should check with his Regional Executive Officer. Monies were released in January and monies were released in February. He should check with his people,” Jordan told Stabroek News yesterday when contacted.
The ministry later issued a response that gave a timeline of transactions between it and the region, showing that the January allocation was not used, and documenting a response from the region in which it was related to the ministry that it would not be ready to begin the project until later this month.
The ministry also pointed out that adding an agricultural programme for the mining town was an initiative of government and a means of making locals self-sufficient with food.
“The Ministry of Finance took a decision to include a new agriculture programme in the Region No. 10 Budget allocation for 2019, totaling $28,992,000. This in an effort to promote agricultural development in the region. The Ministry of Finance conducts Other Charges release within the first five working days of every month. However, the Regional Democratic Council of Region No.10 submitted their cash flow statement on January 12, 2019 and the first release of $1,211,833 was done on January 14, 2019. In addition, $1,665,833 was released on February 5, 2019 to cover costs according to the cash flow submitted,” the ministry said.
“The Ministry of Finance noticed that the entire release for January 2019 was unspent at the end of January and made contact with the Principal Assistant Finance Secretary at the Regional Democratic Council, Ms. Dollette Powers, in the first week of February to enquire about the unspent releases. In response, Ms. Powers said that the Region was not ready to start spending under the agriculture programme and that spending should start from February 2019 since some tenders were sent out,” it added.
Morian, in a statement of his own, had said the region went ahead and hired a few persons to commence the project but that to date, they had gotten no money.
“I am very concerned, as to date, we have not received any releases from the Ministry of Finance with regards to funding for agriculture. We have put everything in place and is ready to move forward but to date, we have not been able to move ahead because despite trying to access the monies we have been unable to. Our REO have tried numerous times and to date it’s holding up the work,” the Regional Chairman said.
He noted that the continued holding up of the finances can result in the region losing its momentum, as farmers and other resources have already been mobilised and with no release of the required funds, it places the region’s officials in an embarrassing position.
“We have a lot of farmers who are ready and prepared to get started but we still can’t access the funding and this is stymieing our programme. We are therefore appealing to all the powers that be that we are working towards food security and if we’re going to bring down the amount of food importation and given the kind of weather that we have right now and time, we need the funding now. I am stating that whatever is the glitch we are asking that it be overridden by some official so that we can get over this glitch, thus allowing us access to the monies,” Morian said.
The Regional Chairman said that whatever is discussed at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), it is discussed throughout the region, thus, he would like the government to immediately address the hiccup within the Ministry of Finance, so as to ensure that the region and ultimately farmers can access the monies in moving agriculture forward. He declared that the current situation that they are confronted with is very tough, noting that he has no intention of returning to the RDC taking the same report. “I’m appealing to have this matter urgently addressed before the first Thursday in March as I would like the system to be freed up so that we can access this money as we have been getting ready all the time and we now need the money,” he declared.
