Georgetown : The report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of Guyana on the Accounts of Ministries/Departments/Regions for the Fiscal Year that ended in December 2013 has shown that there were overpayments amounting to $22.148M on measured works and various contracts.
This disclosure is coupled with the fact that the Auditor General found that these overpayments were in addition to previously overpaid monies on contract works in foregoing periods, amounting to $187.184M, and which the various involved agencies were unable to recover.
A Government Information Agency’s reports says “ the Auditor General reported that there was no disciplinary action taken by any of the defaulting Government agencies.”
“This continued trend coupled with no evidence to suggest that disciplinary action of any kind had been meted out to engineering or other staff involved in the assessment of works in progress and the certification of progress payments is troubling and hints at management’s perceived inaction to remedy the current situation,” according to the Auditor General.
According to AG Sharma, “even though the internal control systems promote efficiency, reduce risk of assets loss and help ensure the reliability of financial statements and compliance with applicable legislation,” it was still found that in 2013, there were “several instances where the design or operation of one or more of the internal control components were weak and non-existent.”
This, he noted was the liability factor, redounding to “millions to be overpaid in salaries and deductions, the clearing of cheque orders long after the stipulated time frame and the non-compliance with the applicable legislation.”
Sharma, in his report, noted too that amounts totalling $217M were shown as contingent liabilities for entities, but none of the entities were still in existence.
The AG reported too that each year his office normally issues recommendations to Ministries, Departments and Regions, aimed at “improving systems and practices at these entities, so as to improve the governance and accountability mechanism.” He pointed out that in 2012 alone, some 322 recommendations were made, all with the intent of “determining what action must be taken by the respective Accounting Officers.”
The AG detailed that of the 322 recommendations submitted, only 101 (31%) were implemented and the rest were either partially or not implemented at all. His report in fact documented that 118 (37%) were partially implemented, and the remaining 103 (32%) were not implemented in at all.
Based on what was discovered, the AG declared that he was concerned “with the lack of action towards implementation of these recommendations, since, in many instances, recommendations were repeated each year without appropriate action, and as a result, weaknesses and issues which impact negatively on Government’s governance continue to occur.”
AG Sharma also implored that Government must act, via the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General’s Department and the respective Government Officers of the Ministries, Department and Regions. He submitted that “appropriate actions must be taken and that measures be put in place to address the many recommendations made in previous reports and the last year as well.”
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