Special Audit into UG at standstill

– months later, AG Office still awaits letter from relevant authorities

More than 10 months have elapsed since calls were made for and assurances given that a special audit into the finances of the University of Guyana (UG) be conducted but this move remains at a standstill.
Auditor General (AG) of Guyana, Deodat Sharma, when contacted by Guyana Times on Friday explained that his Office is still awaiting a document from the Government before it can commence the audit.

He stated that although his office has been ready to commence work many months ago, the relevant authorities are yet to finalise their role, and this has resulted in the long delay of the special audit.
According to Sharma, he was apprised that a letter was to be dispatched to his Office, citing a “change in the situation” in relation to how the Audit Office is expected to proceed with the audit. However, to date, he is yet to receive this crucial information via a letter.
In August, the AG had told the media that at that time, there was a standstill as authorities were yet to figure out who would stand the expenses to conduct the probe in question.

Although the payment plan had not been finalised, plans were still on board to have the audit done.
“We still got it in plans… we are still waiting to hear but we have not gone in as yet and at the same time also, there is the main issue of who going to pay the fees, we got to really get that clarified. The Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary had stopped the audit, so if we go ahead, somebody has to pay the fees. Normally, we have got to ensure that somebody acknowledges the payment,” the Auditor General had previously stated.
At that time, he had noted that no groundwork has been done while noting that other options to conduct the audit may have to be utilised.
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.
The Education Ministry first ordered this particular audit after a request was made by the two workers’ unions at UG to have such an investigation launched. The Ministry was reportedly going to stand the expense associated with the investigation.
Shortly after the independent company commenced its work into the matter, the Education Ministry withdrew its request for the audit, with no explanation given.
Earlier last year, AG Sharma has noted that the backlog of years UG did not complete its audited financial statements was a cause for worry.
Sharma, whose agency audits Government’s public accounts on an annual basis, explained the importance of having those accounts edited to 2018. He was not convinced about the UG administration’s sincerity in clearing this backlog.
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 on nonessential events within the last two and half years – 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 is available for essential repairs and payment for stationery, among others.
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.