–Auditor General says; expresses concerns over GTU’s claims that it was audited
–GTU’s financial unaccountability first raised in 2018 under APNU+AFC Gov’t
AS pressure mounts on the heavyweights of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) to answer questions relating to the expenditure of the hard-earned money collected as dues, Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, has made it crystal clear that only the Audit Office can audit the financial statements of the union.
“I’m concerned right now with the statement made that they have audited accounts… I am not aware of that because we are the auditors for the unions,” Sharma told the Guyana Chronicle, in an invited comment on Wednesday.
“I am going to write them to produce these accounts so that I can double check… but for you to do an audit you have to get the permission of the Auditor General…” he said while underscoring that permission is granted after going through a system.
It was reported that approximately $2 billion collected from teachers by the GTU is unaccounted for, according to the Auditor General’s Office.
Last Friday, the Auditor General’s office issued a statement, which noted: “The last Financial Statement submitted by the Guyana Teachers Union to the Audit Office of Guyana for audit was in respect to 1989 and no subsequent Financial Statement has since been submitted.”
However, it should be noted that this is not the first time the GTU has gathered massive criticism from various sections of society as it relates its financial unaccountability.
In 2018, under the previous APNU+AFC coalition government, a letter was sent to the Auditor General’s Office by a concerned teacher under the subject “Request for audit into the management of funds paid to the Guyana Teachers Union.”
Because of the remarks made by GTU’s President, Mark Lyte, at that time, regarding the union’s management of finances, the “concerned teacher” with grave concern penned the letter and labelled his statements as “flippant.”
Also, owing to the damning revelations within the letter, Sharma was ready to commence an audit of the union, which represents the nation’s educators and one of the largest groups of public servants in the country.
Following a GTU General Council meeting on August 29,2018, Lyte expressed readiness for an audit.
However, when this publication asked the Auditor General if anyone from the Union had followed up with this, he said the financial statements were never provided.
He did note that there were discussions with someone, to which he informed them to prepare and submit the financial statements. But this was never done.
“In order to audit the revenue or income that [is] received by the Teachers’ Union, you will have to produce financial statements unless…a particular amount has been misappropriated… then we go into that,” the Auditor General related.
On Monday, Lyte skirted around the subject of the Union’s financial unaccountability when questioned by the Guyana Chronicle.
Joining some teachers for the GTU’s orchestrated protest action opposite the Ministry of Education, on Brickdam, Lyte initially refused to speak with the Guyana Chronicle, noting: “… I am not dealing anything with Chronicle….,” before agreeing to proffer a comment after being probed by the reporter.
When asked about the recent revelations by the Audit Office and the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority, Lyte resorted to comparing the union to places of worship and social organisations.
The GTU President, instead of commenting on the issue of unaccountability, said: “Produce the evidence that other groupings: unions, churches, mosques, mandirs are submitting.”
Notably, the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority also issued a statement last Friday, which revealed that the GTU last filed its financial returns 20 years ago.
According to a brief statement from the registry, it received queries from the media about the audited financial statements of the GTU and in examining the records, it found that “Annual Returns required by Section 35 of the Trade Unions Act, Cap. 98:03 to be filed annually by registered trade unions was last filed by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) for the year ending 31st of December, 2004, on the 31st of March, 2005.”
Under this Act, unions are required to submit a “general statement of the receipts, funds, effects, and expenditure to the Registrar before the 1st May in every year and shall show fully its assets and liabilities at the date…”
The Act states that every trade union which “fails to comply with or acts in contravention of this section, and also every officer of the union so failing, shall each be liable on summary conviction to a fine of seventy-five dollars for each offence.”
In its 2004 audited report, the GTU collected over $40 million in dues. Union dues are automatically deducted from the salaries of the teachers and handed over to the GTU. But the government recently said it will stop doing so and has cited the lack of accountability by the union.
The GTU is currently engaged in a countrywide strike action which the government said is illegal because talks with the Ministry of Education about increases in salaries and other benefits did not break down.
