Government refuses to  audit City Council

The City Hall

…in face of repeated accusations of improprieties

Controversy has arisen over Government’s decision to launch forensic audits into almost every State agency in the country, but bypass the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) – an agency plagued by repeated accusations of financial impropriety, which had been backed by several investigations.

However, Junior Finance Minister Jaipaul Sharma asserted that the City Council was a part of the local Government system and was, therefore, beyond the control of Central Government.

“City Hall is not part of Central Government…City Hall is local Government…It is independent,” Sharma said, claiming that the executive arm of Central Government has no direct authority to launch an audit into City Hall’s operations without its consent.

Junior Finance Minister Jaipaul Sharma

“City Hall has a council and the council has to determine if they want an audit,” the Minister claimed.

Asked whether Government ought not to think it necessary to launch a probe into the M&CC operations, given the number of allegations of financial misappropriation and the fact the Central Government offers the city hundreds of millions in subventions, Sharma indicated that he was not in a position to respond. Instead, he referred Guyana Times to Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan; however, efforts to contact him proved futile.

Nonetheless, Sharma did explain that if Government wanted to launch an investigation into the operations of City Hall, then the respective Minister would have to make a proposal to Cabinet. If Cabinet has no objections, the Minister can proceed to hold discussions with the City Council concerning the forensic audit. Therefore, the question still remains, why no forensic audit into City Hall?

This question has been in the public domain for quite some time, with observers wondering if the M&CC was overlooked for fiscal inspection, or if it was a deliberate decision taken by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.

Former Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker

The City Council, for years, has failed to address the many issues facing the capital city of Georgetown. While the Council continuously blamed its inability to deal with the problems confronting the capital on the lack of financial resources, the then Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker contended otherwise.

Whittaker had previously declared that the Council lacked the political will under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government to actually commit to responding to the changing dynamics of the city and to provide improved services to residents.

More specifically, Whittaker had pointed out that the Council has no serious debt recovery programme to capture the billions of dollars owed in taxes by businesses and residents. Instead, he explained, the Council continuously cried out that the Central Government did not provide adequate funds for it to effectively conduct its operations.

“How can the Georgetown Council now bombard Central Government for more resources when it is not taking steps to secure and utilise what it already has at its disposal?” Whittaker had questioned.

In fact, he had once told the National Assembly that from the little taxes the Council was collecting, it was misappropriating those funds on questionable areas via short-sighted methods. At the time, Whittaker chastised the Council for spending citizens’ taxes on the payment of a large workforce which consisted of hundreds of workers as opposed to spending monies in areas where there was a need. In seeking to prove his point, he explained that some 27 employees were in a roads division, but yet no roads were being repaired or built in the city.

He added that 78 employees were in a drainage section, but questioned the scope and value of their contributions to the city, which was usually flooded as a result of overflowing drains, canals, and clogged alleyways and 86 were working for the City Constabulary guard service yet many of the market stalls continued to be burglarised. (devinas@guyanatimesgy.com)