Audit flags mismanagement in procurement of COVID-19 supplies

…$400M worth of supplies delivered late; no penalties

A Special Audit conducted by the Audit Office of Guyana has flagged incidents of mismanagement in the procurement of COVID-19 supplies, as well as the hamper distribution that was undertaken by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) last year.
Focusing on the period March to August 2020, the Audit Office has investigated the more-than-$1 billion spent by the Public Health Ministry and the CDC to buy COVID-19 equipment and supplies. According to the Special Audit Report, it was found that close to $400 million in COVID-19 supplies arrived a month late. As a result of this, the Public Health Ministry had lost money, but could not take action against the suppliers, because there was no penalty clause in the contracts.
According to Auditor General Deodat Sharma in his report, this meant that vulnerable persons had to wait for supplies.
“Conversely, in one instance where the clause was included, the Ministry did not deduct penalty fees of close to $5M. This saving could have been used to purchase additional supplies to help fight the disease,” the report said.
It also found that over 100 hampers were left in CDC storage for over three months without being distributed. This, according to the Audit Office, effectively denied those in need of assistance.

“There was a breakdown in the system of internal control over the accounting for goods stored at the headquarters of the Civil Defence Commission and at the Gymnasium. Bin cards were not kept by the storekeeper to account for goods in the stores. Further, there were differences between the ledger quantities and the physical quantities of the goods on hand.
“Similar observations were made on accounting for donations or gifts received. The agencies did not always keep track of the items received. As a result, we concluded that the Ministry of Public Health and the Civil Defence Commission did not properly account for COVID-19 supplies,” the report stated.
Another finding was that the CDC could not explain how it chose persons to receive over 6,000 food hampers valued at more than $124 million. The Audit Office commented that as a result of this, hampers could have gone to ineligible persons and organisations.
“There was a lack of accountability for the more-than-6,000 hampers distributed. There was no evidence of acknowledgement from the recipients of the hampers. The Director General of the Civil Defence Commission explained that hampers were left at the entrance of homes to avoid close contact with persons.
“The act of leaving the hampers at the entrance of homes left them open to theft, and the wrong persons might have received the hampers. Notwithstanding the explanation of the Director General, the Commission could have taken steps to have pictures taken of recipients removing the hampers from the entrances,” the Auditor General said in his report.
A number of recommendations were made going forward, particularly when it comes to tightening up contracts and increased transparency when distributing hampers. For instance, the Auditor General recommended that the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and the Director General of the CDC include a penalty clause in each contract, and enforce the clause against delinquent suppliers. (G3)