— APNU+AFC mismanaged millions of dollars under SLED progamme; Mahipaul calls for audit

AFTER mismanaging hundreds of millions under the Sustainable Livelihood Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) Programme, which included the awarding of a $4.98M grant to now Parliamentary Chief Whip, Christopher Jones, members of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) are now calling for an audit into the programme.

The PNC/R is the largest element in the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition, which started the SLED programme during their time in government from 2015 – 2020. However, it was not until a change of government in 2020 that several instances of what amounted to ‘fraud’ and ‘criminality’ in the spending was unearthed under the project.

Among the questionable disbursements under the programme was how Jones, a member of the PNC/R, and now Parliamentarian for the APNU+AFC, was able to access the $4.98M under the programme, which was supposed to target initiatives aimed at business and job creation in communities across the country.

An audit of the Ministry of Social Protection showed that it had approved the disbursement of $4.9M, through the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) administration for the procurement of equipment for a barbershop under the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) programme.

The presentation of a financial return revealed that the entire sum of money was spent by December 31, 2019, but almost $1M in items had not physically been delivered, but were instead stored at Jones home, and neither had the project been executed.

Jones had received the disbursement under the 2019 allocation when the programme was allocated $250 million. Questions surrounding the SLED programme once again came to the fore on Tuesday, when it was brought up during the Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton’s weekly virtual press conference.

Questioned about how Jones, a party member, ended up being part of the programme that was particularly targeted poor communities across the country, Norton said he saw no conflict of interest there.
“I don’t know about conflict of interest by virtue of being a serving member of a party. [Being a] member of the party doesn’t automatically create conflict of interest once the person is not related to the project and influence the outcome then as far as I know Christopher Jones was in Youth and Sports,” Norton contended.

Jones was the Director of Youth at the time when he received the grant; however, he was still a member of the PNC/R.

MAHIPAUL’S ABSURDITY
Though Norton’s defended a party member accessing financing, in the same breath, fellow PNC/R member and APNU+AFC Parliamentarian, Ganesh Mahipaul, who was also present at Tuesday’s press conference, indicated that it would be unfair if affiliates of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) were receiving grants under the current government’s disbursements.

Mahipaul, the shadow Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, said he is calling for an audit to be done of all the money allocated under the programme dating back to its genesis in 2015.
Under the APNU+AFC, some $655 million was invested into the SLED programme from 2015 to 2019 in increments of $115M, $40M, $100M, $150M and $250M, respectfully.

When it commenced, the programme was overseen by the then Ministry of Communities; however, it was later moved to the Ministry of Social Protection. Under the current administration, the programme is being administered by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and was allotted a further $105 million, $180 million and $400 million in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 budgets respectively. Under SLED, monies were designated to be distributed to projects carried out by either co-operative societies, or individuals, across the various administrative regions.

Following the change of government in 2020, it fell under the Ministry of Labour (MoL) to account for the monies disbursed prior to 2020. It was then that Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, unearthed massive mismanagement of funds under the 2019 $250 million disbursement while documents detailing how much money was given to different entities in 2017 and 2018 cannot be found.
In the 2019 disbursement, the bulk of the money went to Regions 10, which received $24,211,422 and Region Nine which received $169,489,990.

DISREPAIR, DILAPIDATION, OR NON-EXISTENT
However, physical verification of the projects executed under the programme in Region 10 revealed that just one of the projects appeared to have been carried out to completion. All of the other projects were in various states of disrepair, dilapidation, or non-existent.

Called upon to explain what took place with the SLED funds under the APNU+AFC Government, Mahipaul and Norton, pointed to some of the smaller projects executed under the programme but could not account for discrepancies that have been reported about the programme in the Auditor General (AG) reports on the matter.

Both Mahipaul and Norton staunchly declared that under the APNU+AFC Government, there was a pre-set criteria for persons to qualify for grants under the programme. However, the 2019 Auditor General’s Report disclosed that this was not true.

According to the Auditor General 2019 report: “Audit examination of a sample of beneficiaries’ files revealed that application forms were not completed despite it being a requirement. In addition, no criteria or checklist was seen as utilised for the appraisal and approval of grants. As a result, it was difficult to ascertain the reason(s) for granting approval to the beneficiaries.”

The Auditor General 2020 report noted that a Special Audit into the SLED Projects would be launched and a separate report will be issued.
“Audit examination of a sample of beneficiary’s files under the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) Projects revealed that no application forms were completed despite it being a requirement as stated in the notice inviting applications published in the newspapers. In addition, there was no criteria or checklist seen as utilised for the appraisal and approval of this grant. As a result, it was difficult to ascertain the reason(s) for granting approval to the respective beneficiaries,” the 2020 AG report reinforced.