THE Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development will be calling into account all officers who fall under its mandate relative to the recently presented Auditor General’s Report. This was disclosed by Permanent Secretary (PS) in that Ministry, Mr. Collin Croal, when he addressed residents of Landersville along the Berbice River in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) during an outreach last weekend.
Croal told rsidents that, in an effort to ensure better accountability and a proper system which holds persons accountable for their actions, the decision by the Ministry to call the officers into account is necessary.
Croal explained that the process partly entails the Ministry dispatching teams from the Central Office in Georgetown to the various regional offices where aspects of the Auditor General’s Report will be closely examined.
He said that for every area of concern pointed out in the compilation, the responsible officers will be asked to give their explanations in writing, and those responses would be forwarded to the relevant powers through the channels provided in the Constitution.
In an effort to emphasise the seriousness of the move by the Ministry, Croal said that if there is a case where the compendium points to some issue of distribution of materials internally at a specific office, the officer responsible, in this case the stores keeper, will be asked to respond.
He made it clear that no longer will the focus be only on having responses from the persons charged with administering the offices, but will also include those whose departments come under the microscope of the Auditor General.
Croal also spoke of contractors being requested to account for projects which are not up to standard and in keeping with the initial designs and layout as stipulated in the contracts.
The process of accountability and setting records straight will commence next week, and the first communities to be targeted are those in Region Ten, including its riverine communities.

Outreach   
Last Monday, Croal and a team from the Ministry visited several Berbice River communities as part of a two-day outreach that also included those along the Ituni trail.
During his meeting with residents on Monday, some of the concerns and issues which they raised were addressed, and directives were given to regional officials to have them looked into at their level.
Landersville is mainly a logging community, but part of its population is employed by Rusal Mining Company.
Meanwhile, Hinterland Coordinator Harripersaud Nokta also met with residents of Region 10 communities on Monday, while Croal was having his meeting on the other side of the river with residents of Hururu.
Both communities are located on the outskirts of Kwakwani, and following the separate meetings, the teams held a joint meeting at the Ituni Community Centre Ground, where, like in the other villages, issues and solutions were ventilated.
On Monday, Croal and Nokta, accompanied by ministry and regional officials, paid a visit to the Rusal operations at Landersville, where they were received by Personnel Manager Elana Gorshkova, as other senior managers were unavoidably absent.