Municipalities urged to submit 2016 financial statements

In keeping with the need for good governance, accountability, and transparency, officials from the various municipalities across Guyana were reminded to submit their 2016 financial statements so that they could be audited by Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma on Wednesday.

Sharma made this call while addressing the opening of a one-day roundtable discussion on municipal financial management hosted by the Communities Ministry at Tower Hotel. The AG said many of the municipalities have not submitted financial statements for 2016, but they must ensure they do.
“2016 accounts should have been submitted and we know a lot have not done so. According to the Act, you have four months to prepare these statements and with new members having problems with the arrears, but let us get at least 2016 financial statements and backwards to 10-8 years’ arrears,” he said.
Sharma said in looking at the financial status of municipalities, “you’ll get a serious headache because some of them have not been audited for years”. However, he is hoping that trend changes because audited statements will help to bring some level of accountability and better financial management.

“Municipalities get a grant from the Central Government, and the AG audits those expenses, including expenses in terms of rates and taxes…It is very important you account for those expenditure. If you want good governance and proper accountability you have to produce your accounts,” he remarked.
Speaking about the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, Finance Secretary Hector Butts said the law identified the nature of how appropriations are made and the expectations in terms of how those appropriations should be spent, hence the need for accountability.
“At the Ministry of Finance, we stand ready to assist and to give guidance and support. The AG identified the use of public funds. We need to understand the importance of strategic financial management,” he stated.
He pointed out that several municipalities would like to stand on their own feet. “We know that municipalities would like to be standing on their own legs in terms of evolution, free, to some extent, from Central Government and identify taxes and fees, and gathering revenue.”
However, Butts explained that the responsibilities of municipalities were still tied into those of Central Government, especially in terms of the vision. He said it was, therefore, important that municipalities got acquainted with what Central Government has as its vision.
This, he said, will help these institutions to plan projects and programmes in keeping with that vision. “You will need to identify with some objectives playing around with scarce resources to make these decisions on infrastructural needs,” he added.
Butts asserted that financial management required “that one keeps one’s eyes on deficit; as you look at your budget you need to consider deficits and to identify that deficits don’t come about because persons get caught up in discretionary spending, which tend to surface more from a day-to-day perspective as a planned perspective.”
Meanwhile, Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan noted that the discussions were aimed at advancing accountability and transparency at these local organs. He said they would set the stage for greater advancement and independence of these institutions that would help to expand on community development.
He said institutional strengthening and capacity building of the municipalities were priorities of the Administration. Guyana Association of Municipalities Chairman Carwyn Holland said the forum provided municipalities with the opportunity to practice sound financial management, which is essential for the long-term sustainability of towns. The Linden Mayor said that weak financial management resulted in misuse of resources and increased the risk of corruption.