The Office of the Auditor General is currently conducting “real-time audits” of the cash grants being issued by the Government of Guyana, and according to the Auditor General Deodat Sharma, those grants are being issued without prejudice.
“Our teams of auditors were engaged in real-time audits where we were able to ensure the objective of the activity was achieved, beneficiaries received their grant without prejudice of any minor post review documentation issues,” the Auditor General said on Monday.
The Auditor General made the comments while he was handing over the Report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of Guyana for 2021 to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir today.
Five performance Audit Reports were also presented.
Since taking Office in 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration has issued at least five sets of cash grants – the $25,000 COVID-19 cash grant, the $25,000 one-off cash grant to public servants ($25,000), the Because We Care cash grant, the $25,000 one-off cash grant to hinterland and riverain households, the $250,000 cash grant paid to fisherfolks and the $100,000 cash grant issued to children with disabilities.
According to the Auditor General, the real-time audits provided the auditors with an opportunity to witness the process of distribution first hand.
“…there is no better audit evidence than first hand witness,” Mr. Sharma noted. However, he said the audits were not without challenges, particularly given the COVID-19 pandemic and geographical spread of the country.
“…It is very tedious and time consuming and we are still in the COVID period, so those are some of the challenges,” he added.
The full audit of the various cash grants is currently ongoing, however, the Auditor General assured that once completed, the reports will be handed over to the Parliament Office.
Meanwhile, though not revealing his findings as presented in the 2021 Report on the Public Accounts of the country, the Auditor General hinted that there was a reduction in overpayments to contractors as he applauded the work of the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Education.
“In fact, a lot of overpayments on projects that were discovered, they actually were refunded before I issued my report,” the Auditor General told reporters.
He said that the government ministries and departments cooperated with his Office, and in doing so provided better responses when queries were made.
The performance audit reports included reports on the Management of Medical Waste at Hospitals; Management of Drugs and Medical Supplies at the Ministry of Public Health and Regional Health Facilities; Receipt, Storage and Distribution of Textbooks to Schools; Review of Training Programmes established and developed by the Council of Technical and Vocational Education and Training; and Guyana’s Preparedness for Marine Oil Spill Response.
In receiving the reports, the Speaker said in the past performance reports were not delivered in a timely manner, and as such, he applauded the Auditor General and his Office for delivering the reports ahead of the statutory timeline.
He said the reports present an opportunity for the various agencies to do better.
“We have now five performance audits, which can be used for all of the accounting units to look at their own system; we don’t have to wait until we get the Auditor General coming to tell us we can have greater efficiency. But if we look at what is presented now and the observations made, we can start doing better with the money,” the Speaker said.
The Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs; and Public Accounts Committee members, Minister Juan Edghill, Dharamkumar Seeraj; and Opposition MP Juretha Fernandes were among the officials present at the handing over ceremony.
The reports will be made public when the National Assembly reconvenes.
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