— from University of Guyana Science and Technology Support Project

THE Auditor General’s 2016 report for the Ministry of Education has uncovered some $209 million that was allocated as part of the University of Guyana Science and Technology Support Project budget has gone unaccounted for. This disclosure was made during the Public Accounts Committee meeting (PAC) on Monday. According to the AG’s report in 2016, the sum of $906 million was allocated to drastically improve on the services provided by UG’s Science and Technology Support project. The target areas for the allocation, included for curriculum reform, instructional design, and research; infrastructure rehabilitation, equipping of science laboratories, drainage, internet network and multimedia equipment; and institutional capacity building.
Subsequently, a supplemental provision to the tune of $411 million was approved giving a revised allocation for the project a total of $1.317 billion. According to the Appropriation Accounts, an amount totalling $1.311 billion was expended during the period under review. However, the records of the project reflected expenditures totalling $ 1.102 billion, giving a difference of $209 million. UG’s Science and Technology Support Project was funded by the Government of Guyana and the International Development Association (IDA) under a credit agreement and was subject to separate financial reporting and audit.