THE Special Audit into the finances of the University of Guyana (UG) that was long requested by the workers’ unions of the university has been put on pause and the unions are unclear as to what exactly prompted this pause.

Speaking to Guyana Chronicle on Thursday, Auditor-General Deodat Sharma related that the special audit, requested by the Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary into UG’s finances, was put on hold since the request was later withdrawn.

Sharma explained that the Audit Office, which is responsible for auditing public accounts, entities and projects assigned by the Audit Act, is mandated to audit the financial statements of UG. In addition to this audit, a special audit was requested.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education notified the Vice-Chancellor’s office of the unions’ request for a forensic audit into the university’s spending. This request came after the unions had staged peaceful picketing exercises for weeks against what they deemed the ‘misappropriation’ of UG funds.

“The audit will be on the whole financial statement for UG, whereas the special audit would only be on a portion or a special item,” Sharma explained. He further related that an independent chartered accountant was hired to conduct the special audit, in light of those concerns raised by the unions.

With the ministry withdrawing the request, he indicated that this special inspection was now at a standstill until it is determined who will pay the independent accountants.

President of the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) and union representative on the UG council, Dr. Jewel Thomas, said she was recently made aware that the audit had not “gone forward” as the unions thought it would have.

She indicated that she was made aware of this during the past three council meetings but also related that she was unclear as to what exactly prompted this pause.

“Unfortunately, the Council meetings that were held in June, we did have enough space to discuss the matter of the audit because we were dealing with a couple of fairly urgent matters including the University’s draft budget that will be out forward,” she said.

The woman, however, affirmed that once the Council meets again, which is likely to be held sometime in August ahead of the new academic term, the reason for the pause would be discussed.

While the unions await that information, she made known that the unions have no intention of forgetting about this issue at hand.

“From the unions’ side, we are not letting it go, we are definitely going to pursue it,” Dr. Thomas said.