– unable to provide information on $8M maintenance of one vehicle

By Navendra Seoraj

GUYANA Defence Force (GDF)’s Accounting Officer, Commander Vernon Burnett has blamed the high cost of vehicle maintenance on the shortage of Army vehicles, and the need for an upgrade of its “old fleet”.
He gave the foregoing explanation when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday. The meeting ended after Commander Burnett could not provide answers requested by members of the committee, which comprises Government and Opposition members.

Based on the Auditor-General’s report for 2016, the GDF spent $239.6 million on the repair and maintenance of 64 of its vehicles.

In one instance, it was found that $8.5 million was spent that year to maintain one vehicle, an expenditure that drew the attention of both Government and Opposition members of the PAC.

Many questions asked about this expenditure could not be answered immediately, as Burnett said the information was not readily available.

Chairman of the PAC, David Patterson and other members of the committee deemed this unacceptable, but consistent scrutiny prompted the army’s accounting officer to say: “Most of our fleet is really old, but we don’t have enough vehicles to conduct the operations that we are required to do.

“As we speak, many of our commanders and senior staff officers are out of vehicles; their vehicles are being taken away, and they have now been provided for operational duties on the borders, and even on the coast.”
Admittedly, the army, he said, has been spending a lot of money on maintenance, but this is also the case because the old fleet is not being upgraded in a “timely manner”.

Despite his explanations, the PAC members continued to question the accounting officer about the $8M expenditure, but no more information was forthcoming, although multiple officers of the army were present.
While Commander Burnett could not answer questions related to the type of vehicle, he said the expenditure covered major repairs on one of the Force’s pick-up vehicles.

Further information on this vehicle was later provided by the PAC Chairman, who said it was a Bedford four-tonne tipper truck, which was assigned to the 4th Engineering Battalion.

According to a breakdown of the expenditure, $1.4 million was spent in January; $231,580 in February; $1.7 million in March; $960,400 in April; $1.5 million in May; $824,000 in June; $943,200 in July; $10,000 in August; $236,800 in September; $379,500 in October; $75,800 in November; and $128,600 in December.
Further questions related to this and other issues were asked, but, considering the accounting officer’s inability to answer those queries, it was suggested that the GDF officers return at a later date for further scrutiny on the same audit report. Members of the PAC concurred with this proposal.