AGRICULTURE Minister Noel Holder has responded and provided the necessary information requested of him by Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Dharamkumar Seeraj during the examination of the budget estimates in the National Assembly. The information was also provided to the Clerk of the House, Sherlock Isaacs.In an article published in yesterday’s edition of the Guyana Times, Minister Holder is accused of being unable to provide the breakdown of the $52M allocated for Commission of Inquiry into the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuco).
The table below sets out details of allocations for the COI as approved by Cabinet and which was provided in the same format to the Opposition MP and the National Assembly.
GUYSUCO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
JULY 1 to SEPTEMBER 28 2015 (90 Days)

No ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER
G$(000) G$(000) G$(000)
1 CONSULTANT SERVICES 16,980 16,980 16,980
2 RETURN AIRFARE ( 1 Consultant US/ Guyana) 150
3 SECRETARIAL STIPEND 30 30 30
4 WATER DISPENSER , FLASH DRIVES 100 100 100
STATIONARY ETC
5 CONSUMABLES 56 120 120
6 FUEL 22 150 66
7 DRIVER MEALS/ STIPEND 50 50 50
TOTAL 17,388 17,430 17,346
CUMULATIVE 34,818 52,164
APPROVED BY CABINET 52,164

Along with the misleading article on the GuySuCo COI, Guyana Times also published another erroneous article in its yesterday’s edition. This one having to do with money from the Treasury being spent on President David Granger’s inauguration.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland, has chastised the original news service, Citizen’s Report, which published the inaccurate report. They have since been asked to correct the inaccuracies.