A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has highlighted the Auditor General’s 2024 Report, which was recently released and exposed cases of financial irregularities and mismanagement across the Government with more than $1 Billion in over payments made in a single year.

APNU Member of Parliament, Ganesh Mahipaul said the findings of the Auditor General for the Fiscal Year ending December 31, 2024, painted a deeply troubling picture of “financial recklessness, weak oversight, and persistent breaches of accountability laws” within several Ministries, Departments, and Regional Administrations.

According to Mr. Mahipaul, the report revealed that there were serious cases of mismanagement and wastage of billions of taxpayers’ money with $1.011 Billion in over payments made to contractors in 2024 alone.

“The Auditor General examined 829 contracts valued at $48.19 billion. He found that $1.011 billion was overpaid to contractors under 86 contracts administered by various Ministries and Regions. Of this total, $902 million was overpaid under 37 contracts from key Government agencies such as: Office of the President, Office of the Prime Minister, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Local Government, Amerindian Affairs, Agriculture, Public Works, Human Services, Education, Health, and Home Affairs, Guyana Police Force and Guyana Defence Force. An added $109.99 million in over payments occurred across nine Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs). Since these over payments were from sample audits, it, raises serious concerns that the true extent of financial irregularities could be far greater,” MP Mahipaul explained.

Further, he said based on the Auditor General’s report, there was a clear lack of compliance, particularly with recommendations made.

It was noted that out of 179 recommendations made in the 2023 report, only 48 or 27% were fully implemented, while 96 or 54% were partially implemented, and 35 or 19% are still to be implemented.

MP Mahipaul submitted that the recurring failure to correct past weaknesses shows a disregard for accountability and financial discipline across multiple Ministries.

He said the APNU wants to see greater compliance, and extensive audits done at the level of Ministries and other State agencies.

“The APNU Parliamentary Opposition is calling for deeper forensic audits in all ministries and regions where over payments and unaccounted funds were discovered. Public disclosure of recovery efforts, including names of engineers who facilitated and contractors who benefited from over payments; independent oversight of ministries with repeat audit violations, especially Health, Agriculture, Local Government, and Human Services; and the strengthening of internal audit departments and real-time digital monitoring of public contracts to prevent abuse,” MP Mahipaul said.

MP Mahipaul said the Government must stop treating findings of the Auditor General as routine bureaucratic issues, and address the root causes including the issues of systemic corruption, weak governance, and absence of accountability. He said the time has come for decisive action and full transparency.

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