–PAC hears, although former coalition minister had said it was the PNCR’s funds that were used

THE Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday revealed that the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration spent some $50 million for a Buju Banton concert in 2019 despite previous reports of funding for the event coming from the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)’s purse and not the Consolidated Fund.

This emerged when the committee examined the Auditor General’s 2019 report for the Ministry of Finance.
While examining the audit of the Guyana Lottery Control Commission’s accounts, it was noted that some $712.844 million was expended, and some $32.500 million was transferred to the Consolidated Fund for 2019.

As questions were raised on the expenditure, Accountant General Jennifer Chapman disclosed that among the payments, there was a payout of $50 million for a Buju Banton concert classified in the AG’s report as, “Support for the Guyana Carnival activities 2019. Buju Banton Long Walk to Freedom.”
Against this backdrop, Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill questioned if this long walk to freedom was a national programme.

It was then that the Chairman of the PAC Jermaine Figueira clarified that all payments out of this lottery commission’s fund are issued via a Cabinet decision, and indicated that the accounting officer would not be in a position to make a determination if it was a national programme or not.
In response, Edghill added, “If the Government of Guyana, whether by Cabinet decision or not, pays $50 million to an artiste Buju Banton, I’m simply asking was it a national programme; I don’t recall this walk to freedom.”

Chapman, however, said that that was during the period when there were “Guyana Carnival” activities, and that the $50 million covered other expenses and not just the singer.
Notably, this was done well after the APNU+AFC government had assumed a “caretaker” role after it was toppled by a No-Confidence Motion, which was passed in the National Assembly in 2018.

The spending of this sum of money was cause for confusion in 2019, and even Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, who was Opposition Leader at the time, had called out the APNU+AFC for using government funds to purchase tickets to distribute to citizens.
During a press conference in 2019, Dr. Jagdeo had indicated that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had received information that millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money were being spent to purchase close to 8,000 tickets for the Buju Banton show.

At the time, Dr. Jagdeo had concluded that it was part of a plan by the APNU+AFC to campaign using taxpayers’ money.
Dr. Jagdeo had blazed the then administration for using taxpayers’ money for that purpose when there wasn’t adequate medicine in hospitals and health facilities.

Meanwhile, in a media interview, then Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally had denied that funds used for the purchase of said tickets were government funds.
She said, “It’s not government money; it’s the PNC’s money, and we are distributing it (tickets) to people.”

When asked what the idea was behind such an initiative, she stated, “Well, we believe that it’s a good opportunity for people, generally, to go to the Buju Banton show.”