Dear Editor,
It is a damning indictment of the PNC administrations 1980-1992 that its Deputy Auditor General Anand Goolsarran can defend the absence of audited accounts by simply saying, “The fact is that the Government did not submit draft financial statements to the Auditor General. Therefore, in the absence of these statements, there could not have been audited accounts.”
Interestingly, it was during this period that Goolsarran was promoted from deputy to the top job which he accepted with full knowledge that there would be no audits to perform. Here is where the first question of personal integrity enters and one can ask how many years it takes to decide that you are being paid from the public purse for doing nothing and on top of that ‘earning’ a promotion.
Goolsarran’s letter provides an interesting synopsis of his career and a snapshot of that period of Guyana’s history as we transitioned from decades of dictatorship to democracy; from being classified as a heavily indebted poor country (HIPIC) subject to IMF monetary regimes to exiting HIPIC in 2006.
As Auditor General, Goolsarran was interested in earning a better salary; President Cheddie Jagan referred to officials who earned more than US$5,000 per month in the public service as ‘super salaried’; there were other public officials who were paid US dollar salaries under loan programmes – the Finance Sector Programme 956 and the Public Sector Technical Assistance Credit 3,726.
These included Winston Jordan, Winston Brassington and, Khurshid Sattaur; it is to these ranks that Goolsarran aspired. Jagdeo declined his request on ethical grounds. At the time, local commentator Lallbachan ‘Chris’ Ram said: “How can they borrow to pay some privileged elite and not pay the ordinary employees?”
Goolsarran subsequently got an offer while representing Guyana at an international conference and, the government facilitated a six-month leave period that allowed Goolsarran to earn commensurate with his qualifications and experience; in the end, Goolsarran was gone for four years.
The Guyana Goolsarran returned to in 2004 was a vastly different place; we were no longer a country where paint was only available in white. Guyana was progressing economically to the point where we would exit the HIPIC classification and corresponding IMF regime in 2006.
Goolsarran says: “Four months later, I demitted office, following the Government’s reaction to the “dolphin scam” (Stabroek 19.10.23); in other places Goolsarran states that he delivered the Audit report on the 31st December 2004 and left the country that night and stayed away in fear for his life. The attempt to export dolphins and other protected species through waiver or special permit was indeed a scandalous affair, good for a round of laughter in Georgetown circles but certainly not serious enough to cause an Auditor General to flee for his life.
I suspect Goolsarran had gotten used to the consultant life (described as a man who borrows your watch and then charges you to tell time) and was finding that the Audit office had changed to a hard-charging work environment in his prolonged absence; he had become a nowhere man, a common affliction among expatriate professionals.
Goolsarran’s next incarnation was as a transparency advocate; if he were to be listened to, we would have no bridge over the Berbice River, no Marriott Hotel. Goolsarran, and others so clouded the Amalia Falls issue that the investors pulled out and that vital project never went forward.
Goolsarran made numerous allegations of corruption and without a doubt, corruption exists; what Goolsarran and others did not provide was actionable evidence of specific instances. As Auditor General, Goolsarran was in the statutory position to unearth this evidence; he was no layman bystander.
Name withheld
