… spends $99M on ‘obsolete radios’ 8 days before elections
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) deliberately breached the laws of Guyana to avoid the scrutiny of Cabinet and spent almost $100 million on obsolete High Frequency Radios, five days before it was set to run-off the 2015 General and Regional Elections, in addition to a range of other financial infractions which has since seen the Commission being owned millions of dollars.
The damning revelations are documented in the Auditor General’s Annual Report for 2015, prepared by Deodat Sharma and made Public by Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland, who tabled the document in the House on Thursday.
Contract splitting
With regards the avoidance of Cabinet scrutiny, the Auditor General found that GECOM split nine contracts in order to give an $82 million contract to a single supplier.
The contracts were for the supply of toner cartridges, stationary and ink.
According to the Auditor General’s findings, GECOM in 2015 spent $197.9 million for office materials and supplies and included in this sum were amounts totalling $82.2 million, which represented full payment on nine contracts awarded to the same supplier for the purchase of toners and cartridges.
The investigations are ongoing into the transactions.
According to the Auditor General, the Procurement Act dictates that Cabinet shall have the right to review all procurements, the value of which exceeds $15 million.
The Act further dictates that a procuring entity – such as GECOM – shall not split or cause to split contracts or divide or cause to divide its procurement into separate contracts where the sole purpose for doing so, is to avoid the application of any provision of the Act or any regulations made.
The contracts were awarded to the same local supplier between February and May of 2015 with the highest amount being for $14.8 million and the lowest being for $1.9 million.
According to the Auditor General, “the contract awards appeared to be sub-divided, which breached the Procurement Act regarding splitting of contracts and review by Cabinet.”
He said “At the time of reporting in September 2016 the Audit Office was conducting further investigations into this matter.”
Obsolete radios
Meanwhile, another worrying transaction undertaken by GECOM which has since generated significant media reportage after word of the audit was leaked, is that of an almost $100 million purchase of 50 High Frequency Radios.
It was observed that GECOM in 2015 expended $179.8 million on chairs, desks, cabinets, tables, back-up systems, scanners and copiers, High Frequency (HF) radios, water pumps and equipment, air conditioning units and office equipment.
In relation to the High Frequency radios, the Auditor General found that the contract was signed on May 4, 2015, eight days before the hosting of the May 11, 2015 General and Regional Elections – the very elections for which the radios were being purchased.
According to the Audit findings, the purchase was made based on approval via a Cabinet decision dated April 28, 2015, in the sum of $99.5 million for the purchase of 50 HF radios and related accessories.
GECOM, however, apart from inking the contract a week before the elections opted to utilise a restricted tendering process.
The Audit Office found that GECOM selected three suppliers and made requests for quotations for 50 ‘Barrett HF radios.’
The Auditor General has since discovered that only one supplier quoted the price for the 50 Barrett HF radios and the other two quotations were priced for 20 Barrett and 30 ICOM HF radios.
The contract was subsequently handed to the lower of two quotations which included a different type of radio set. According to the contract, 40 per cent of the total amount was to be paid to the supplier on the signing of the contract.
An amount of $39.8 million representing 40 per cent of the contract amount was paid to the contractor on May 28, 2015, via a cheque dated May 7, 2015 – five days before the May 11 General and Regional Elections.
Time constraints
The final payment of the remaining 60 per cent of the contract sum – $59.7 million was paid to the contractor on July 23, 2015, via a cheque dated July 5, 2015.
According to the Audit Office, the items were verified as having been received and brought to account in the Commission’s Stores records.
One Barrett HF radio was issued to the Chief Elections Officer a day before the election on May 10, 2015, and one ICOM HF radio was issued to the Commission’s sub-office in Lethem on June 16, 2016.
The Auditor General found that there was no evidence to indicate that the other 48 HF radios were used.
The Commission in its response to the Auditor General said its communication plan was to ensure that a communication system existed throughout Guyana and was premised on the use of different mediums and assets on the ground such as cell phones, radios, internet access and personal transmission to provide reliable, clear and accurate feedback.
“However, the Commission was unable to deploy all the radios because these radios were received outside of the operational deployment time to train staff in its use in the remote areas which resulted in a change of plan with the provision of 12 satellite phones by UNDP which provided secure and reliable communication.”
Guyana Times understands that the radios supplied to GECOM are in fact obsolete and will be completely useless in any future elections.
Expired film
Another worrying finding at GECOM which serves to highlight financial impropriety at the Commission related to a transaction with regard to camera film.
It was uncovered by the Auditor General that in April 2007, a stock of 268 cartons of Polaroid film with an estimated market value of $30.4 million were found due to expire.
This led the Commission to enter into an agreement, whereby a local firm would utilise and replace the stock at a later date.
Seven months later, 94 of the cartons of film with an estimated value of $10.7 million were declared spoilt by the local firm and were returned to the Commission, while the difference of 174 cartons valued at $19.7 million were still outstanding.
By March 2010, the Commission received goods to the value of $5 million leaving a balance of $14.7 million outstanding.
According to the Auditor General, “this matter was referred to legal personnel who advised that “GECOM may not therefore be statute barred from pursuing any action against the supplier to recover monies owed, since the time for bringing a cause of action has lapsed, and no acknowledgement of the debt, nor was any subsequent payment made to GECOM by the supplier.”
Other infractions observed by the Auditor General include the overpayment of monies to contractors for works not done in addition to substandard record keeping which has led to GECOM being unable to account for millions of dollars in supplies it would have purchased and kept in storage.
