THE 2018 Auditor-General’s report was submitted by Auditor-General Deodat Sharma to Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Barton Scotland on Monday.

Its contents are expected to be made public after being laid in the National Assembly on October 10, 2019. The Audit Office of Guyana (AOG) is responsible for scrutinising the expenditure of public funds on Parliament’s behalf. Financial audits conducted cover publicly-funded entities, donor-funded entities, local government agencies and trade unions in Guyana.

During the hand-over, the Auditor-General thanked the staff of the Audit Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant- General and heads of budget agencies for their cooperation. “The presentation of this report marks the ninth consecutive occasion the Audit Office has been submitting its reports by the statutory deadline of September 30 following the close of the fiscal year. This achievement reflects the realisation of the office’s objective of timely reporting of the results of its audits to the legislature, and ultimately the public,” he said.

Also present for the handing over were Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs; members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC); Advisers of the PAC; and staff of the Audit Office. The Auditor- General also thanked the Government for its efforts to strengthen the Audit Office, as well as donors and partners such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (CAAF), Global Affairs Canada, the Audit Office of British Colombia, and the High Commissioner of Canada.
He noted that the Audit Office underwent a Supreme Audit Institutions Performance Measurement Framework (SAI PMF) with consultants from the IDB, and was found to be “in compliance with the relevant auditing standards”, and were ranked “above average”.

Meanwhile, while the contents of the report are expected to be made public after being presented to the National Assembly, members of the Opposition have said that they want access to the document, even though they have no plans of returning to the House on the said date.
“We have a particular matter of interest in the absence of the Sitting of the National Assembly, and where we in the Parliamentary Opposition do not envisage any sittings that we will be participating in or any sittings taking place whatsoever, because, in our view, the Parliament has expired, we would like to ensure that this report is not ducked and hidden for the next five months, where the country would be kept in suspense as it relates to its contents,” PAC Member and Opposition Member of Parliament, Juan Edghill said.

“Our demand,” he said, “is that this report, in the absence of a sitting when October 10 and the recess is over, must be circulated to all members, whether they are sitting or not sitting… We will not allow just wanting to get a copy of the report to force us back to Parliament.”
He was supported by PAC Member and Opposition MP Nigel Dharamlall.

While the Opposition members have expressed their expectations, Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs told this newspaper in an invited comment that there are no provisions for a presentation of the Report before it is laid in the National Assembly.
“Yes, it has to be laid,” Isaacs said, adding when questioned whether it could be accessed beforehand: “As far as I’m concerned, the answer is ‘no’.” He added that the MPs cannot make special requests to the Auditor-General for an earlier release.