Dear Editor,
Well the litmus test has been done at the Georgetown Municipality. And by this I mean the very limited audit of the 0,000,000 that was given to City Hall by the Government was scrutinised to ascertain whether sound fiscal principles and methods were applied by the council in expending this sum.
Of course coming as no surprise there was colossal mismanagement, deliberate violations of tender procedures, non-adherence to their own financial regulations, favouritism in the engagement of contractors, etc. This proves that there could be no greater need for a comprehensive, forensic audit to be done of the entire financial system for at least the last ten years, of the entire Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown.
The citizens of Georgetown need to be provided with access to the full report that was compiled by the Audit Office of Guyana. It must be part of public records, for which the citizens who are the stakeholders have an interest.
But make no mistake, the Town Clerk and the Mayor would never ever voluntarily agree to a ten-year, far-reaching, deep and thorough forensic audit of the Council’s accounts, assets and human resources.
One should not forget that perfunctory examinations done in the past have shown that loans and advances taken by some of these very senior administrators were found to have never been repaid. That one contractor, a well-known friend of a senior administrator, was awarded contracts to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, without any adherence to tender rules, for the weeding of parapets and clearing of drains; that scores of employees who are on the payroll are close relatives and family of the ‘Gang of Four’ and other senior officers; clear acts of nepotism and cronyism; that large sums are being doled out to facilitate unnecessary foreign travel; that large sums are being wasted on needless projects such as the ‘Presidential Park, the Green Conference, and Expo; and the maintenance of a large staff assigned to a former Mayor, including cooks, gardeners, chauffeurs, bodyguards, and clerical staff that operate out of another agency, but all of whom are paid for by the Council.
There are many Commissions of Inquiries being carried out across Guyana, sometimes for things far less egregious than what is and has been going on at City Hall. Could we please have a Commission of Inquiry set up to examine the workings of City Hall?
With thanks,
Riley Matthews
