-Auditor General’s Report reveals
UNDER the former APNU+AFC government, the Ministry of Social Protection (now Ministry of Human Services and Social Security) overpaid $8.330 million on the contract for construction of a fence at New Opportunity Corps at Onderneeming.

This is according to the report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of Guyana and on the accounts of the ministries and departments for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.

Furthermore, the report revealed that on March 1, 2023, a letter was sent to the contractor for the sum to be repaid; however, to date no refund was made to the ministry.
As a response, the Head of Budget Agency indicated that the ministry has since handed over all documents requested by the Engineer of Audit Office and is awaiting a decision on same.

Moreover, among the numerous financial discrepancies under the previous coalition government, the regional administration of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) lost millions owing to the abandonment of a contract for the construction of a health centre and living quarters in Wiruni, Berbice River.

The report revealed that the $19.684 million contract was awarded in 2017 by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) and the total payments made for works completed were $9.167 million, with the contractor receiving an advance payment of $3.937 million.

This represented 20 per cent of the contract sum, and this was followed by three interim payments of $2.019 million, $1.390 million, and $1.822 million, respectively. However, the works were incomplete, and the site was abandoned.
Earlier this year, other discrepancies were scrutinised before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

For instance, the regional administration of Region One (Barima-Waini), under the former coalition administration, did not maintain a register on fuel inventory for 2017, and several accounting discrepancies, including the receipt of more fuel than the region had capacity to store, has raised grave questions of accounting breaches at the regional administration.

According to findings, the region also did not maintain a register for fuel receipts and issuances; however, in total, there are more cases of fuel being issued than there were instances of fuel input, leaving several questions about what exactly took place in 2017 with the fuel in the region.

According to the 2017 Audit Report, while 817 drums (36,767 gallons) of fuel were received by the regional administration from various suppliers, amounts totalling 1,009 drums (45,420 gallons) were reflected as being issued. As a result, the records indicated an excess of 192 drums (8,653 gallons) of gasoline being issued, more than was paid for.

Moreover, while fuel was stored in one bond that had a maximum capacity of 50 drums of gasoline (2,250 gallons) and 10 drums of diesel (450 gallons) at any given time, evidence was seen where fuel was purchased in quantities beyond the storage capacity of the bond.