The National Assembly on Thursday unanimously acceded to a motion on staff issues relating to the Audit Office moved by People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Volda Lawrence.
The motion stated that the PAC, examining staff issues relating to the Audit Office, noted that the Works and Structure Division and its staff were omitted from the Rationalised Job/Position Titles and the Manning Level Chart of the Regulations, Rules, Policies and Procedures Manual.
In an effort to correct the omission, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel advised that the amendment be published in the Gazette prior to the motion being taken to the Parliament for confirmation.
Lawrence said that the first ‘whereas’ clause seeks to address the reason for the motion, the omission which rendered the total staff number as 223 instead of 227.
Approval of the motion allowed  the inclusion of one director, one manager, and two engineers in the Works and Structure Division.
“These persons are critical to the work of the Audit Office, given the large percentage of the annual budget which goes towards capital expenditures,” she said.
She added that the PAC members have a vested interest in ensuring that the Audit Office of Guyana is given the support which would allow for the strengthening of its human resources, thereby allowing this critical office to achieve its mandate.
People’s Progressive Party/Civic member, Bibi Shaddick, expressed the unequivocal support of the government benches in view of the fact that the Audit Office of Guyana, having been strengthened and made independent, with the PAC having only supervisory capacity over it, can move now in the direction of value for money audits, for which engineers would be very necessary.
The PAC has oversight role of the Audit Office of Guyana through the Audit Act 2004.
(GINA)