City Hall inquiry report due on Friday

The long-awaited report on the findings of the inquiry into the operations of the Mayor and City Council will be submitted to Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall on Friday, Commissioner Keith Burrowes said.

Keith Burrowes

During a press conference held yesterday at the Cara Lodge Hotel, Burrowes, who headed the Commission of Inquiry, described City Hall as “not a normal organization” and said that the amount of work required was underestimated by everyone. While apologising for the delay in the release of the report, Burrowes emphasised that he had taken his time with it in order to address the institutionalised and systemic problems, which have continually impacted on the work of the municipality.

In a press statement issued yesterday, Burrowes said that “while this report was completed over a month ago, the recent discovery of an alleged fraud in the Treasurer’s Department of the council had delayed its submission to the minister.” He stated that the matter is under the control of the Guyana Police Force and explained that he was hoping for a report from the police on the issue.

The commissioner explained that the police report would permit him to “include specific recommendations” in his final report so as to “prevent any re-occurrence of a similar situation”. Burrowes recently discovered an alleged fraud valued at over $3 million at the municipality headquarters.

Burrowes, however, said that based on the time factor even if a report is not received from the police, the final report will be submitted on Friday. He disclosed that from information he received, the police will “likely” be pressing charges against some individuals.

In underscoring his point that City Hall did not operate like a “normal organisation”, he pointed out that the body had not had a financial audit since 2004. He also said that City Hall did not have a general ledger nor did it have accounts done by appropriate officers. There was “zero information” and “no supporting schedule to represent any figure provided by the department”, Burrowes said in the release.

He said that he had met senior officers from the Treasury Department and “constructed some basic tools necessary for proper accounting at that entity.”  Burrowes criticised the manner in which the City Hall had been run. He called for the establishment of a common database with all data related to property owners in the city. This, he said, would be very useful when persons go to City Hall to transact various kinds of business and when records are needed.

When questioned about the frequent complaints from City Hall about the limited amount of revenue it receives from taxpayers, Burrowes suggested that the council may indeed need more funds, but he opined that he would rather see the municipality manage what it had before issues like a new valuation roll are addressed.
However, he opined that that for the first time “in many years, the council is likely to have an unqualified report from the Auditor General for 2009.”

The commissioner, meanwhile, commended the staff at the City Hall for their cooperation and said that they had been very helpful in what has been a tedious exercise.
Burrowes was joined at yesterday’s press conference by four other members of team conducting the inquiry, Premchand Dass, Puran Persaud, Patricia Chase-Green and Ranwell Jordan.