Dear Editor,
WELL finally it seems as though there will be some sort of audit carried out at City Hall in Georgetown. I guess many persons there must be shaking in their boots, some running helter skelter whilst others must be diving for cover wherever they can, in anticipation of the Big Exposé. As they say in Guyana, ‘Moon ah run till daylight ketch am’.
Of course this audit will be a very small focused one that will be concentrated on the millions of dollars in funds provided by Central Government to the Georgetown Municipality since 2015.

But hopefully the findings of this forensic audit will raise the awareness for and trigger the effecting of a much more comprehensive audit of the workings of the Georgetown Municipality. The kind of audit needed at the Georgetown Municipality, because of the protracted period since one was held, because of the enormous sums of money and assets involved, and because of the amount of scandals that have surfaced over time at City Hall, will need to be forensic in nature and will require gargantuan resources.

The claim made two years ago by the Mayor that she was open to facilitate any forensic audit, and that the Office of the Auditor General was welcome at any time, was nothing more than spouting hot air. The Audit Office of Guyana has clearly indicated that all attempts to conduct an audit at City Hall were frustrated and were stymied by documents not being provided. It is time for this charade to be put to an end.

To further throw dust in the eyes of the citizenry, the City Council had set up a fully staffed Internal Audit Department. This turned out to be a complete waste of time and revenue earned from ratepayers, as these persons just sat and idled all day long whilst receiving fat salaries for doing little or nothing. They were neither trained, qualified nor competent to carry out their responsibilities, nor were they inclined to do so, as they were all kith and kin.

Auditing City Hall will require the engagement of several experienced and capable accounting and auditing firms, as the load would be just simply too much for the Audit Office of Guyana. Over the last two decades many things have been hidden, destroyed and misplaced.

Crooked contracts will have to be examined, equipment that has gone missing will have to be traced, persons illegally given interest waivers will have to be pursued and made to pay their correct dues, equipment that has been sent to do private jobs, including work at officer’s residences will have to be paid for, municipal equipment that was sold dirt cheap will need to be properly assessed and the proper prices paid for them, municipal property sold or leased that should not have been, needs to be retrieved. Oh the task will be titanic but must be done. Corruption is a true enemy to development, and fighting it at City Hall will not be a one-day or one-time affair.

Regards
Deodarie Putulall