Pro-Chancellor steps in; Auditor General gets green light to investigate

Special audit of UG finances

After initial attempts to carry out an audit of the University of Guyana’s (UG’s) finances were blocked, the University’s Pro-Chancellor, retired Major General Joe Singh, has apparently stepped in to allow the Audit Office of Guyana (AOG) to probe UG’s books.

This was revealed by Auditor General Deodat Sharma in a recent interview with this publication. When asked for an update on his office’s audit of the university and its spending, Sharma noted that the audit is likely to begin shortly.
“The UG audit, I’ve been contacted by the pro-chancellor, so that should commence shortly. I spoke to the contracted auditors for us to do some terms of reference, so we are awaiting certain documents from UG.
“There was an initial start, and then the PS withdrew. But now the Pro-Chancellor has indicted that he wants us to go ahead, so we’ll go ahead with it,” Sharma further explained to this publication.
The UG administration has previously been accused of wanton spending, including hosting several events; standing the expenses of meals and accommodation for guest speakers, as well as hiring select individuals; paying them super salaries, and sending large delegations overseas, all on the University’s bill.
Former Vice-Chancellor Professor Ivelaw Griffith had always denied those claims.
The University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) and University of Guyana Workers Union (UGWU) have levelled these accusations in particular. The Unions had joined forces to question why monies were allocated in previous budgets to entities which do not exist, and what became of those funds.
They had also demanded answers from the administration on how much money was spent within the last two and half years on nonessential events — which included, but were not limited to: The Law and Society series, the Turkeyen-Tain talks, and the Vice-Chancellor’s installation ceremony.

They had argued that while these monies were being spent, the core units of the University, which include faculties and schools, had been informed that no money was available for essential repairs and payment for stationery, among other things.
But after initially requesting that the Audit Office conduct an audit into UG’s finances, the Ministry of Education mysteriously withdrew its request for the audit. When questioned about this withdrawal, Ministry officials have been tightlipped.
Initially, the Audit Office of Guyana had contracted an independent company to conduct the much-needed and highly anticipated audit into UG – in light of allegations of mismanagement of funds.
When the Ministry withdrew its request, the Audit Office had heeded widespread calls to continue the exercise anyway. But it subsequently emerged that the special audit had been stalled until authorities could figure out who would stand the expense involved in conducting the probe.
In his 2016 Audit Report, Sharma had found that $209 million had been unaccounted for from the University of Guyana’s Science and Technology Support Project, funded by the Government of Guyana (GoG) and the International Development Association (IDA) under Credit Agreement No 4969-GY.
However, the University had insisted that the monies were used for infrastructure projects on the campus, including a fibre-optic cable to provide students with Wi-Fi. It had also noted that some of the monies were used to renovate the faculty buildings.
With Former Vice Chancellor Ivelaw Griffith walking away from the university earlier this year under a cloud, opinion has been divided over what benefits his tenure actually brought to the university, as opposed to the accusations levelled against his administration by the unions.