PAC examines fiscal red flags raised by Auditor General

Audit report

…Region 7 commended on spending

In a rare occurrence, officials from a region were commended by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when they appeared to defend certain red flags raised in the 2016 Auditor General’s report.
Officials from the Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) administration, including Regional Executive Officer (REO) Rodrick Edinboro and several of his regional officials, were questioned by the Committee on several fiscal matters.
Opposition Member of Parliament Pauline Sukhai, who was acting as Chairperson of the PAC in the absence of substantive Chairman Irfaan Ali, noted the seriousness of instances where contractors were overpaid back in 2016.
Opposition Parliamentarian Nigel Dharamlall noted that maintenance works in the region had amounted to $307.4 million, with almost all of that money being spent. Citing this and other examples, the MP enquired how the region was able to keep so close to their planned expenditure.
In response, the REO noted that planning had much to do with it. At the same time, however, he disclosed at the prompting of PAC member Volda Lawrence some of the issues the region faces with clearing cheque orders.
“The geographic location and distance to deliver plays a part in that,” he said. “We also have problems with the availability of the item, if it’s not within the local borders. We also have problems when seeking duty-free concessions.”
“Also, there is the stringent adherence to the release of one cheque until another is cleared. By the time you’re ready for that one, there’s also a problem with that. But the cheque order system, as it is, was really designed to deal with cash payments to employees,” he related.
Sukhai ultimately commended the regional authorities for the improvements they had made in their systems.
“There seems to have been somewhat of an improvement in the region and I will ask that some of the areas that we have had some prolonged questioning,” she said. “That you, take note of those and make sure that you come prepared in the future because I am sure we will see you back in the stipulated time and thank you again for the engagement here, you and your team.”
On other matters relating to expired drugs, the region also conveyed to the Committee it had a clean bill of health.
For instance, the 2016 report had noted that audit checks had revealed there were 23 types of expired drugs in the regional administration’s possession, which are still to be destroyed. But since there was no value stated on the documents for the items, a total cost of all drugs destroyed could not be ascertained.
PAC Member Juan Edghill had raised concerns over whether expired drugs were being distributed to hinterland residents. According to Regional Health Officer, Dr Edward Segala, however, the expired drugs were not being distributed. Dr Segala also noted that the drugs have been destroyed. But all is still not well with the system.
“The system is a challenging one. For example, at the level of a hospital where you have a pharmacist… it is much easier to notice and to tell whether a particular medication is going to expire within a certain timeframe.”
“The challenge though would come from the far-flung areas, in our case, Upper Mazaruni and Middle Mazaruni where there is no pharmacist… so supervision can be quite challenging,” he had noted.