Serious breaches of Stores Regulations last year
– at Culture Ministry

By Alva Solomon
SERIOUS breaches of government Stores Regulations were committed last year at the then Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the agency has taken steps to correct them.According to the audit report, which was seen by this newspaper, poor storage and accountability for equipment procured by the agency occurred during the period audited, breaching the Stores Regulations.
The findings were among several faults discovered at the agency following a forensic audit of the Sports and Arts Development Fund which was launched in 2007 at the ministry, now renamed the Ministry of Education, Department of Culture, Youth and Sport.
The audit was undertaken for a period stretching from January 1, 2012 to May 31 this year.
The report pointed out that goods purchased by the ministry during the year 2014 were “not taken into stores”, while ledgers were not recorded. In addition, there were instances where vouchers were missing and there was no form of accountability to substantiate these. The report cited instances where items loaned or transferred by the stores breached the Stores Regulations.
In addition, the absence of inventories for equipment purchased was another area of concern, a clear breach of Section 24 of the Stores Regulations.
Among the findings, the auditors noted that records of accountability were discovered at the National School of Music on Brickdam for musical equipment. However, these did not exist at the ministry’s main stores on Main Street.
It was noted too that an examination of the stores records indicated that only electronic instruments valued some $6.7M were received and accounted for in the stores, however ledgers to match these were not updated.
The report highlighted the cases of steel pans which the agency purchased for $3M in April 2014. It was noted that while delivery notes were presented by the Administrator of the National School of Music as well as the Berbice High School and President’s College, all of which received steel pans, no records existed at the Ministry’s stores for issuance and delivery of these. There were also similar breaches when steel pans were loaned to the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) on the Essequibo Coast. The auditors recommended that the Permanent Secretary investigate this breach of the regulations and to submit recommendations to remedy the situation.
Following the observations of the auditors, the ministry was asked to respond to the findings and its responses indicated that the musical instruments purchased were subsequently taken into stock while relevant documentation pointed out during the audit were also undertaken. In addition, steps were taken to mark items as being the property of the Ministry.

RECOMMENDATION
The auditors recommended that the ministry put systems in place to ensure that relevant financial records are maintained in accordance with standard accounting practices and procedures as well as with government regulations.
Following the May 11 elections, the Government of Guyana has been undertaking physical reviews of several ministries, departments and statutory bodies as well as several projects. This is to determine the accuracy of record-keeping, the degree of accountability and transparency as well as the efficiency of State resources.