Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 05, 2020 News
Auditor-General Deodat Sharma has informed Kaieteur News that his office intends to conduct a special audit of all COVID-19 expenditure, with special focus to be placed on government’s flagship infrastructural project. In March, President David Granger had issued an order under the Public Health Ordinance which allows him, in the case of emergency, to expend public funds such as may be necessary for the effective carrying out of any and all of the provisions which concern notable infectious diseases.
Kaieteur News had observed several projects being undertaken which had not shown up in this newspaper’s weekly coverage of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). Asked whether this is concerning, Sharma noted that a section of the Procurement Act applies in cases of emergency.
Section 28 (c) of the Act which allows the Government to engage in single-source procurement “owing to a catastrophic event, [where there is] an urgent need for the goods, services or construction, making it impractical to use other methods of procurement because of the time involved in using these methods…”
However, the AG stated that due diligence checks must still be carried out with regard to such expenditure. He noted his office has sent out circular to all public agencies indicating a need for separate accounts to be kept for all money received and spent during this time.
Of particular concern to Sharma is the matter of the Ocean View Hotel, a project Government will be funneling and as yet undetermined amount of public funds into. Finance Minister Winston Jordan had said that more than $1B will be spent on its retrofitting the property to make it a COVID-19 hospital. Sharma said that the $1B is a lot of money, and that his office “will have to go through it and see what happened.”
In addition to that expenditure, an order was signed recently by Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence for compulsory acquisition of the property. No sum was given with regard to the price to be paid or who the current owner of the property is.
The hotel had once been used to store medical supplies for the Ministry of Public Health. Back in 2013, high tides had caused considerable damage to the property, making it a flood risk as high tides are becoming an increasing threat. Sharma also mentioned the issue of a rat infestation.
President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer had recently said that it is shocking that so much money is being spent, and that he wanted to see the engineer’s estimate to determine the veracity of the costs. He noted that a previous report highlighted certain findings which were concerning to the Auditor General’s office.
AG Sharma said that the audit cannot be done at this time because of the partial lockdown, but that the office will begin as soon as it is lifted. Notably, it is not just Guyana that will undergo special audits due to the COVID-19 crisis. Sharma, speaking as Chairman of the Caribbean Organisation of Supreme Auditing (CAROSAI), said that each country in the region will be audited.
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