…of audit control
The Report of the Auditor General is out – and duly presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly. But with the low-keyed reporting of the tabloids – all of which used to run screaming, banner headlines at this time when the PPP/C was in office – you’d think this APNU/AFC Government was all financially squeaky clean and all, wouldn’t you? And that’s where you’d be wrong – and it begs the question as to why the free pass for this PNC-led administration.
But we all know the answer to THAT question, don’t we? The PPP is outside the charmed circle of those who have the RIGHT to govern Guyana. What do THEY know about running things – they’re best left to hauling water and hewing wood, no? But even your Eyewitness would concede that governments need to be changed ever so often – stretches of two decades are just too long. Bad habits and complacency creep in even with the best of intentions.
But hey! Shouldn’t these fellas and felines from APNU/AFC have done SOME of what new brooms’re supposed to do? Like sweeping clean! But from the word go…they’ve done EVERY thing they’d criticised the PPP for – and then some. Name the transgression they highlighted and they have repeated it! And we can see them all summarised in the Auditor General (AG) Report.
First of all the AG himself had to complain as to how he’s seen as a “Christmas blow blow” by almost every government department. Yup! The very folks who used to complain about the PPP running their government without any scrutiny from the Auditor General’s office – have complied with less than ONE IN NINE recommendations the man made to get the running of Guyana’s financial affairs in order. It’s clear that they thought it was “financial runnings”!!
Even in conducting the infamous audits to identify the financial shenanigans the PPP supposedly committed, the government broke the very rule the PPP allegedly did: single sourcing the auditors to whom $153 million was shelled out – and counting. Contingency Funds on “unforeseen expenses” which the PPP supposedly abused? Well there was so much spending that was “unforeseen” by this government that they might’ve well been blind! THREE QUARTERS OF A BILLION IN NINE months!
NICIL hiding money from the Consolidated Funds? Oops! How about secreting ONE BILLION dollars? And now the mystery about the Funds to complete Jubilee Stadium’s been solved. NICIL of course!! And the best goes on…
Thing is…if all the mentioned practices were “criminal” under the PPP…why are they suddenly kosher under the PNC?
Let’s see where all those transparency activists are now! Stricken dumb?
…on gold
When the PPP was in office, Trotman claimed 150,000 ozs of gold were being SMUGGLED out of Guyana. Now, even if gold was CONSERVATIVELY rounded off at US$1000/oz – your Eyewitness likes his maths to be simple – this would amount to US$150,000,000 or Guyana $30 Billion!! This alone could bail us out of the financial doldrums the government’s got us stuck in. But hold it!! With SOCU and SARA and every department run by de
fellas with Military Intelligence backgrounds, what has Trotman and his government done to staunch this bleeding?
Well, in addressing the question recently, Trotman boasted that on the gold-smuggling front they’ve actually made a dent: they seized one fella who was trying to fly out of Ogle with a heavy gold chain!! He then allowed that the smuggling might be on the rise again and he was bringing in a foreign expert to advise him! Really?! With all these military heavyweights Trotman still needs foreign advice?
Or is it like the Cummingsburg Accord, the Bahamas Pact is off?
