Georgetown : Tomorrow has been set aside for Guyana's National Assembly to conduct the business off the non-governmental parties in the House namely the combined opposition.
A Partnership for National Unit will be using the session to seek to give ‘financial freedom’ to the Audit Office of Guyana.
APNU’s Carl Greenidge, has tabled a motion which is scheduled for debate in the House tomorrow and is aimed at achieving just this.
Greenidge's motion calls on the House to resolve to : “removes the Audit Office from the Schedule of Budget Agencies and restore it to its rightful place as an autonomous agency drawing directly on the Consolidated Fund and that these changes be reflected in the Annual Estimates to be submitted by the Minister of Finance for the approval of this.”
Greenidge premises his course of action on what he calls a legislative obligation “that the Auditor General shall act independently in the discharge of his functions.”
The Opposition has for several years called this manner of allocating monies to the Audit Office as a subvention a mechanism to curtail its function.
According to Greenidge the Audit Act of Guyana “provides that the Auditor General shall be the external auditor of the public accounts of Guyana and in the discharge of his function shall have complete discretion.”
He says too that “the Office of the Auditor General and Audit Office are being treated as a Budget Agency by virtue of the Schedule to the Financial Management and Accountability Act 2003, which seriously calls into question the autonomy and independence of the Office."
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