The Prime Minister’s Secretariat has spent $21.4M of the $109.2M allocated on a range of programmes and initiatives including the launching of regional radio stations and constitutional reform activities.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, told the National Assembly that his Secretariat has been very frugal in the execution of its functions as he responded to questioned posed by Opposition Member of Parliament Odinga Lumumba on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo disclosed that from the sum, $5M was used to facilitate constitutional activities. Last September, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat handed over $5M to the University of Guyana as funding for Constitutional Reform Education. The Constitutional Reform Education Project is being worked on by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the University of Guyana (UG).

At the time, the parties had also released a joint report on the “Review of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic in Relation to the Rights of the Children.”
That aside, the Prime Minister told the House that $5.5M was used by his Office for the launching of Regional Radio Stations–Aishalton, Orealla and Bartica in addition to training of regional radio personnel. A percentage of the money was also used to facilitate his outreach activities.

Approximately $4.6M was used for Supervisory Consultancy for the Regional Radio Project while $1.2M went to IT Service such as email and web services. The Prime Minister’s Secretariat also spent $1.4M to repair furniture at the Prime Minister’s Office and official residence, replacement and cleaning of curtains as well as carpets. Events and functions hosted by the Prime Minister cost so far $1.6M while other minor expenses for the secretariat totaled $2.1M.