Auditor General Deodat Sharma has flagged almost $800 million in overpayments by various Government Ministries and agencies in his report on the Public Accounts of Guyana for 2025.

The report was laid in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

According to the report, a total of 979 contracts valued at $66.9 Billion were examined by the Audit Office, and those examinations revealed that $796.72 million were overpaid to contractors covering a total of 37 projects.

The contracts were executed under the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development as well as the Ministries of Agriculture; Tourism, Industry and Commerce; Public Works; Labour, Human Services and Social Security; Education; Culture, Youth and Sports; Health and Home Affairs. It also included the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force.

“With respect to the Ministries, overpayments totaling $705.19 million were identified under 37 contacts,” a section of the report states.

In the case of the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs), over payments totaling $91.530 million were identified under 64 contracts.

The Auditor General wrote that at the time of report, most of the over payments were recovered, except those relating to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, and the Ministry of Labour.

The report states that a total of $20.616 million remained outstanding across the three Ministries.

The Auditor General said in addition to over payments, a total of 16 contracts valued at $953.030 million were terminated under the Ministries of Education, Home Affairs, Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Culture, Youth and Sports, and the Ministry of Local Government as well as the Regional Democratic Councils for Regions 3, 5 and 8.

“The termination of these contracts resulted in delays in the anticipated benefits of the respective projects,” the report states.

Additionally, at the time of reporting, five Ministries and six Regions had 1,123 cheques totaling $5.956 billion still on hand, which should have been refunded to the Consolidated Fund as of December 31, 2025.

“394 cheques totaling $4.450 billion related to Ministries and Departments, while the remaining 729 cheques totaling $1.506 billion related to Regions One to 10 with the exception of Regions 4, 8, 9 and 10,” the report states.

It added that 81 cheques totaling $244.094 million related to the years 2023 and 2024 remained on hand at the Ministry of Health, the Guyana Defence Force, and Region 1.

The Auditor General also indicated that 73 payment vouchers totaling $227.089 million were not presented for audit for audit, thereby limiting the scope of the audit.

“Of this amount, 16 vouchers totaling $68.568 were for the Guyana Defence Force and 57 totaling $158.521 million were in respect of Region 10,” another section read.

However, it noted that a number of Ministries, departments and regions continued to clear the cheque order compound.

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