October 15,2016 Source

Concerns raised by Auditor-General (AG) Deodat Sharma about the manner in which the administration of George-town spent a $300 million government subvention has led the Ministry of Communities to launch an audit into the city’s spending of these funds.

Minister Ronald Bulkan, speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, said he was happy that the AG had been able to identify shortcoming in the accountability of local organs so early in the administration’s term so that better measures for monitoring could be put in place.

“While the local organs have financial autonomy, in cases such as this, where the ministry has pecuniary responsibility for the funds, we are happy and thankful for the findings since they are useful to us in our monitoring of governmental subventions. As part of the political directorate, I am committed to the very highest standards of accountability and will work with the permanent secretary to ensure they are maintained,” he said.

In the 2015 Auditor General’s report, which was laid in Parliament on Thursday, Sharma noted that of the $300 million allotted for Georgetown’s restoration $6.2 million was expended on the purchase of a double cab pick-up for the City Constabulary, $52.163 million for the de-bushing of Le Repentir Cemetery and $241.637 million for the restoration of Georgetown.

According to Sharma, the basis of award of several contracts for the weeding of parapets, desilting of drains and cutting down trees in various areas around Georgetown could not be determined due to the unavailability of supporting documents. As a result, it could not be determined whether proper transparency and accountability were exercised in the awarding of the contracts.

The audit office, having examined 212 payment vouchers, pinpointed discrepancies including 167 instances where there was no evidence of the vouchers being certified by the accountant or any other authorised officer; 140 vouchers totaling $143.683 million which had not been approved by the treasurer and 58 payments totaling $48.404 million which had not been approved by the Finance Committee.

Additionally, there was no evidence of receipt or payee acknowledgement for a payment of $750,000 to a contractor.

Asked to comment on the findings, Town Clerk Royston King said he would not offer an elaborate comment until such time as the audit was completed. However, he stated that several of the discrepancies were as a result of a lack of diligence.

In an invited response the Permanent Secretary of the Communities Ministry Emile McGarrell explained that the subvention was allotted to the city on the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that it would be used for environmental improvement so as to improve the health and well-being of citizens.

“The MoU stipulated certain procedures which were to be used in the spending of the monies so when the AG examined the city’s spending, he was checking to see if these procedures were followed. We wanted to know if this approach to helping local organs fulfil their responsibilities would work and these findings have illustrated that there are areas we need to focus on to make the instrument of the MoU more effective. These issues relate to internal capacity and speak not just to the system but also to the people who manage the agencies,” he said.

McGarrell explained that in response to the AG’s finding, the ministry has deployed its own internal auditor to ascertain why these discrepancies exist. Their findings will determine how the ministry deals with “the Town Clerk and his Treasurer.”

However, he could not detail the measures which may be used to address the issue, since according to him, he was constrained by a lack of financial regulations.

“In the specific cases where they may not have used the money in the way we have agreed we will have to deal with that. I can’t tell you how, due to the absence of a financial regulation. There is not a definitive position that I can take. The financial regulation would’ve definitively stated what would’ve been the consequences for breaches but in this case we will have to work together with the AG to have standards be put in place that further guide the local organs on how they are to operate. This is a gap which exists in the local government law,” he explained.