The 2024 Auditor General’s report has uncovered over payments of contractors by the Government to the tune of more than $1 Billion.

APNU Member of Parliament, Dr Terrence Campbell today said the report by the Auditor General points to elevated risks of fraud, corruption, waste and mismanagement under the current Government.

The 2024 Auditor General’s report was laid in the National Assembly last Friday, highlighting weaknesses in procurement, record-keeping, accountability and oversight.

At a press conference today, MP Campbell said the auditors found over payments totaling G$1.011 billion across 86 contracts administered by Ministries and Regions. He said the figure suggests that contractors received more money than the value of the work completed.

“The breakdown shows over payments in Ministries and Departments of G$902 million across 37 contracts and Regional Democratic Councils of G$109.99 million across 49 contracts. These extremely large over payments are the results of weak contract supervision, inadequate verification before payment and potential opportunities for collusion or procurement fraud and corruption, causing the Auditor General to call for training on common procurement fraud schemes and contract management because of recurring issues in this area,” the APNU Parliamentarian said.

He said based on the report, the auditors were unable to examine 120 payment vouchers totaling G$877.286 million because documents were not available.

The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security was among entities cited for not providing the requisite documents for almost $700 million of the $877.2 million flagged.

In Region 3, payment vouchers for some $127.8 million were also not made available in addition to $56.3 million for Region 10.

“Auditors could not verify expenditures of public funds totaling G$900 million because they could not be independently supported by documentation. This is another serious accountability failure and creates significant opportunities for fraud or misuse. This is barefaced corruption. As of September 2025, 824 cheque orders totaling G$4.928 billion remained outstanding,” MP Campbell pointed out.

He said these are all examples of weak financial controls, significant delays in clearing advances and the inability to verify whether public money achieved its intended purpose.

MP Campbell said to compound the situation the Government has repeatedly failed to act on more than 50% of the recommendations put forward by the Auditor General.

It was pointed out that out of 179 recommendations made in the 2023 report, only 48 or 27% were fully implemented, and 96 (54%) partially implemented. Some 35 of those recommendations or 19% were not implemented, the APNU MP said.

He said the recurring findings and sloth in implementation of recommendations signal systemic governance weaknesses and inadequate corrective steps on the part of government.

MP Campbell believes that the effective functioning of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), with a high level of independence, could help to not highlight the systemic issues but ensure that weaknesses within the system are addressed.

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