Labour Minister Dr Nanda Gopaul says that the government has no difficulty with the audit office probing its accounting for public funds and he hailed the current Auditor General, Deodat Sharma as someone who meets the requirements of the job.

Gopaul’s Ministry today released a report on a speech he made to the annual staff conference of the Office of the Auditor General.

Touching on the much-talked about issue of corruption,Gopaul said:

“You must continue to strive for excellence and improve what you are doing. I am pleased with what I am hearing that more forensic audits will be done, contracts will be examined and this Government supports aspects of work that will make the system as transparent as possible and that will weed out corruption as far as possible. In no system around the world can you can say that there is no corruption and I’ll be the last to say that we don’t have corrupt practices in the public service but as far as is possible, the Audit Office is playing its part in working to eliminate areas that can give cause for concern and areas that need improvement…”

As such, he said his government had no difficulty with the audit office probing the work and systems utilized by the government in accounting for public funds.

“We support the efforts of the Audit Office in cleaning up whatever areas there may be that need that clean up…we in the government are not averse to the audit office working diligently professionally and moving to clean up areas of concern to government because we believe that the tax payers money, the people’s money, must be spent in the interest of the (country) and those whom we serve. It’s only when you have checks and balances coming from an important office as yours [Auditor General’s] can we feel safe”, Gopaul declared.

He then went on to address the suitability of Sharma for the post, saying that Sharma meets the job requirements and brings a wealth of experience to the table. Sharma was confirmed as Auditor General at the end of October this year after acting in the position for seven years. His confirmation came amid continued arguments that he was not sufficiently qualified to be appointed as Auditor General. This is a position that had been taken by former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran and commentator Christopher Ram among others.

Gopaul also took on critics of Sharma’s recent report on the public accounts for the year 2011. Gopaul noted that critics had knocked the report for not examining issues thoroughly.

“A few critics who will want to find faults and bore holes in the audit reports and who want to question the independence and the integrity of these report…Perhaps these critics would like to see a report not based on facts and evidence, but being critical for criticism sake… We can never satisfy everyone, but we work based on our professionalism, integrity and issues that we have to deal with consistent with the nature of our jobs. Once you pursue your tasks in that diligent and professional way, even though criticisms will come your way from time to time, at the end you will see the results,” he contended.

In recent weeks, both Ram and Goolsarran have flayed the quality of Sharma’s report and its apparent downplaying of what they deem to be important issues. In his accountability column in Monday’s issue of Stabroek News, Goolsarran cited Sharma’s treatment of the Office of the President in the 2011 report. Sharma devoted 12 paragraphs to an office which Goolsarran noted accounts for expenditure of $5.7B. By contrast, Goolsarran noted that his 2004 report on the public accounts devoted 57 paragraphs to the Office of the President and in 2003 there was a comprehensive evaluation of the operations of the scandal-ridden Wildlife Division which at the time had been transferred to the Office of the President.

Gopaul argued that over the years the government has made significant strides in bettering the conditions at the audit office and it is fully autonomous.

“The autonomy the audit office has in Guyana is (comparably) speaking second to none in any part of the Caribbean and even when you look at the Commonwealth; you may find very few have that degree of autonomy. Additionally, the Auditor General’s independence is preserved in the Constitution of Guyana, so much so he is answerable to absolutely no one. In his functioning, he’s under the control of no one and that must be seen as a sign of a healthy democracy”, Gopaul declared.

He posited that the fruit of this has been timely and consistent reports from the audit office. The Labour Minister urged staff not to be distracted by negativity.

While commending the audit office staff for their professionalism and hard work, Gopaul cautioned against absenteeism and lateness.

Excerpts from Stabroeknews