Accountability Watch

On 10 December 2020, the Auditor General presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly his report on the audit of the public accounts for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2019.

Our objective is not only not to have more exploitation of new oil and gas resources (but also] to make sure that a meaningful part of oil and gas already discov- ered stays below the surface.                          UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres World leaders recently held a virtual summit to mark the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which aims at ‘[h]olding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels’.

Last Wednesday was International Anti-Corruption Day, a day when governments, businesses and civil society join hands to renew their commitment to end the devastating effects of corruption on the lives of citizens worldwide.

Last week, it was reported that the UK Government, through the Department for International Development, is providing Jamaica’s Integrity Commission with approximately £550,000 for institutional strengthening in the following key areas: (i) development of an electronic system for filing of declarations with the Commission; (ii) drafting of Regulations to support the Integrity Commission Act; (iii) crafting of a corruption risk assessment; and (iv) development of a national anti-corruption strategy.

Guyana’s laws on petroleum exploration and production date back to the 1980s.

In our last two articles, we discussed the operations of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd.

In last week’s article, we began a discussion on the operations of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL) in the light of the controversy over its involvement in the leasing and disposal of State lands under questionable circumstances.

It is time for better angels to prevail. Tonight, the whole world is watching America.

In last week’s article, we referred to the sad state of public accountability at the beginning of 1991.

In last week’s article, we referred to the appointment of the nine-member Public Accounts Committee (PAC) following the convening of the 12th Parliament under the new Administration.

The essential fact is this Committee is a Committee of the House responsible to the House as a whole, and is not a battleground for party faction…I believe it is true to say that the authority of the Committee is greatly enhanced by its unanimous character and I hope the complete objectivity of its report.

Last week, the Government announced the appointment of eight new Permanent Secretaries.

In last week’s article, we sought to explain the Government’s budgetary process for the benefit of those who are not familiar with it.

More than 100 wildfires continue to rage in the states of California, Oregon and Portland, causing deaths to at least 35 people, massive destruction to property and displacement of thousands of residents.

On 30 September 2019, the Auditor General presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly his report on the audit of the public accounts for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2018.

After 15 months, the National Assembly met last Tuesday for the first time under the new Administration.

Some 28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from Earth’s surface since 1994, according to researchers from Edinburgh University, University of Leeds and University College London.

In last week’s article, we referred to the urgent need to convene Parliament in order to set the legislative agenda for the rest of the year, including the presentation and approval of the budget for 2020.

I have been around in this business for 25 years and I have never seen a post-elections process like I have seen here in those 25 years, anywhere…[W]e saw things, with our own eyes, which were clearly not credible and clearly not right.

A huge section of the Milne Ice Shelf, the last of Canada’s intact ice shelves located on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, has collapsed into the Arctic Ocean, creating an “ice island” about 30 square miles in size, larger than that of the area of Manhattan.