2014 Auditor General Report …Over $100M remains unaccounted for on certain eco-tourism projects

Oct 29, 2015 News

Guyana’s Audit Office and even the former Ministry of Amerindian Affairs (renamed the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs) are yet to see a single piece of evidence to support the proper spending of over $100M on certain eco-tourism projects.
According to the Auditor General’s report for expenditure incurred last year, amounts totaling $119.505M were expended on projects relating to eco tourism such as three eco-lodges, two guest houses, one benab, upgrading of a waterfall, funding for a trail from Parabara to Kasikaitu and language revival programmes.
Also included in this amount were sums totaling $41M which were given to eleven Village Councils to undertake various community projects.
The Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, said that it could not be determined whether these projects were completed since no evidence was provided to demonstrate that these works were verified as completed by the Ministry.
Even the Ministry seems to be unaware of the status of these projects and what has really occurred with the moneys.
The Ministry’s Head of the Budget Agency explained to Sharma that the villages were informed to submit status reports on their specific projects within their communities.
It was noted, however, that the Ministry has not received any of these reports to date. Sharma stressed that the Ministry put measures in place where regular feedback and progress reports are received from the Amerindian Villages.