Report on public accounts adopted

The report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the public accounts of Guyana for the years 2002 and 2003 was adopted by the National Assembly earlier this month.

Chairperson of the Committee, Volda Lawrence, in presenting the motion said that an alarming situation remains with the government’s share of proceeds collected from the Guyana Lottery Company’s games. She said that the reason for it not being paid into the Consolidated Fund was beyond the understanding of the PAC. This has been a longstanding problem that has repeatedly been pointed out in reports of the Auditor General’s office.

The improper use of government vehicles and overdrawn accounts were among areas of concern. She said that the PAC recommends a survey of ministries and semi-autonomous agencies to discover the prevalence of public funds withholding and spending at will.

However, overall, she said, many of the general problems affecting the financial management system have been corrected to a large extent as a result of a memo issued in 2006.

PPP/C Member of Parliament, Donald Ramotar said that one thing that has to be noted is the “constant trend” in the improvement of the public accounts in the country. He stated that the reports have not been too late but urged that if the reports are going to be a tool to help manage accounts, the PAC itself needs to be more efficient. On the issue of the lottery funds, he declared that the general thrust of the criticism is that it is illegal but said that he did not think it was.

He stated that what is never mentioned by the opposition is that the funds and projects are always audited.