The Guyana Sugar Cor-poration on Monday said that it will implement the recommendations made by Auditor General, Deodat Sharma following a special investigation earlier this year which discovered that the Rose Hall Estate overpaid two contractors close to $5m for mechanical tillage works in 2021
The Audit Office discovered that the overpayment stemmed from the fact that the two contractors were paid an hourly rate of $8500 instead of the stipulated $7500 after a decision was taken by the estate to pay based on hours worked. As such, the Auditor General in the report recommended “appropriate disciplinary action” against the Estate Manager, Aaron Dukhia, the estate’s Agriculture Manager, Bishan Dhanpat, and M Jaffar, Engineer Field Operations, and “any other culpable officer(s) who aided in the decision for the deviation of rates per contracts.”
In a letter in yesterday’s Stabroek News, Dukhia said that the change of the payment was from piece-rated to time-rated and not a wrong application of the rate per hour, that is from $7,500 to $8,500. The rate per hour of $8,500 is according to the approved rate, he said. This deviation of payment was necessary due to the inadequate and poor tillage machines, unsuitable type of tractors and implements, poor conditions and inexperienced operators, he added.
In a statement issued to Stabroek News on Mon-day, GuySuCo said that the “recommendations of the Office of the Auditor General of Guyana will be implemented by the Cor-poration. There is an active internal disciplinary pro-cess in progress that is being managed by the professionals in the Human Resources, Industrial Relations and Legal Teams at GuySuCo.”
Further, according to the corporation, following the independent audit investigation the police have since been written to open an investigation. The statement noted, “the lawyers have written to the police to ensure that by way of a police investigation, there is no criminal intent in this case.”
Stressing that GuySuCo adheres to the rule of law “especially with regards to financial accountability”, the statement noted, that due process was followed by the corporation’s Internal Auditor, “after this variation was discovered and that Team conducted their investigations and came to certain conclusions. However, because of the gravity of the findings, the Internal Auditor sought an additional review from the Office of the Auditor General of Guyana (the Constitutional Authority that scrutinizes the expenditure of public funds on behalf of the Guyana Parliament).”
Every cent
GuySuCo further pointed out in the statement, that “Every cent expended at the Rose Hall Estate since September 2020 was funded by the taxpayers by way of the Guyana Parliament.”
According to them, neither the Rose Hall Estate Manager nor his subordinates had the “legitimate authority to alter the terms of any contract without the requisite written instrument of authority.”
The Corporation explained that if an estate manager is experiencing any sort of operational challenges with any contractor, then he should formally write that contractor and copy his seniors. “No Estate Manager can unilaterally and arbitrarily vary a contract without the necessary written instrument of authority”, they stressed.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News reported, that Dukhia issued a resignation letter in early August. When contacted on Sunday Dukhia had explained that his resignation did not have to do with the special investigation and said that he had also tendered a resignation letter in June last year – something he said the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha can corroborate.
He had also told this newspaper on Sunday that after meeting with the Minister last year he decided to stay on the job. He added that both his resignations were due to issues with the corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, Sasenarine Singh, whom he said he found to be “toxic”.
However, in its statement on Monday, the corporation said it is not in receipt of any resignation from the Rose Hall Estate Manager that was issued by him in 2021, “therefore the Corporation cannot comment on this matter. What the records at the Corporation do reflect is a written statement from the Rose Hall Estate Manager to the Head of the Human Resources Department revealing that he has no intention of renewing his contract when it expires in late 2022.”
Furthermore, the corporation noted, that they do “not see a connection between an independent Special Audit conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Guyana and the personal feelings of the Rose Hall Estate Manager concerning his boss.”
The CEO when contacted on Monday assured the workers at the estate and the general public that the operations at the Rose Hall Estate would not be affected by Dukhia’s exit. “In light of what has been revealed in the press, as CEO I want to assure the workers in the factory and field and the general public that the corporation upon receiving the letter from the Rose Hall Estate manager has already put in train a contingency plan, to successfully deliver on its mandate at the Rose Hall Estate without Mr. Dukhia.”
Singh and the corporation also extended best wishes to Dukhia in his future endeavours.
Over the two years that the PPP/C has been in office GuySuCo has been plagued by internal feuding leading to high-profile resignations. It also continues to need significant subventions from the state and sugar production has been below target.
