Regional engineer admits to certifying works without inspection

An engineer attached to Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) was placed in the hot seat, admitting to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday that he did not measure the works on river defences in Bartica that the overseer presented to him to certify.
The PAC is presently examining the Auditor General’s 2017 and 2018 reports pertaining to the Region Seven Regional Democratic Council (RDC). Regional Executive Officer Kerwin Ward was quizzed on the Auditor General red flagging a $4.7 million contract for river defence at Agatash, Bartica.
Two different valuation amounts were attached to the documents certifying the works done… one in the sum of $2 million and another in the sum of $3.6 million. Neither of these sums corresponded with the payment amount requested by the contractor, only two days after he signed the contract. Regional Engineer Selwyn Charles was put in the hot seat.
“According to the records, payments for this contract were made in four parts. And the payment would have been processed based on valuations pertaining to this amount. I can’t say how it is that for the valuation one and two, these amounts were (certified),”
When pressed by PAC member Juan Edghill whether he certified the valuations, Selwyn Charles had this to say. “Yes sir, to my knowledge, based on the records that the REO provided… the contract was directly managed by the overseer and I would have certified the payments after measured works were presented to process the payments.”

Asked if he went and did his own measurements, Charles admitted that he did not do so. According to the engineer, he relied on the word of the overseer and supporting staff in order to certify the payments.
This has been a sore issue for some time with the PAC, whereby works were being certified without being measured by the officer signing off on payment vouchers. This is a practice that is a major contributor to overpayments on public projects.
In previous Auditor General reports, issues such as overpayment to contractors and breaches to the country’s financial laws are habitually flagged. These matters usually come up for scrutiny during the PAC meetings. Additionally, there are prior year matters whereby the AG’s recommendations are at various stages of implementation.
Last year, during the examination of several cases of overpayment at the then Public Security Ministry dating back to 2016, Chairman of the PAC, Jermaine Figueira had urged action against staff who are responsible for such overpayments, since he noted that the focus is usually on the contractors when it is the Ministry staff who approved the work.
“In light of these revelations FS (Finance Secretary), your office has to do something. Send a circular to that effect. That before these works are signed off, it has to satisfy the scope of works. And if the engineers or clerk of works are responsible for overpayments happening at those agencies, they are the ones that should be sanctioned as well.”
“Because they are responsible for certifying these works as per the contract requirements. Because when the Audit Office go in and their engineers go back and measure the work, they realise that this scope of work wasn’t followed,” Figueira had said.
Finance Secretary Sukrishnalall Pasha had meanwhile indicated that a circular to this effect would be sent out. According to him, such actions are a breach of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA). (G3)