In our article of 9 October 2023, we discussed the award of the contract for the construction of a sluice pump station at Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, to Tepui Group Inc.
Before proceeding with today’s article, we would like to offer some brief comments on a letter published in last Saturday’s issue of the Stabroek News.
Before proceeding with today’s article, we refer the response by Guyana’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance to a question posed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
Last year, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) suspended Guyana from its membership because of the delay in compiling and publishing its 2020 annual report.
In our article of 5 February 2024, we began a discussion on the various anti-corruption measures implemented by the Guyanese authorities over the years and what may have been reasons for Guyana continuing to score poorly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
This is our fourth article on the above subject. So far, we have discussed several initiatives taken over the years to improve public financial management, especially in relation to ensuring greater transparency and public accountability.
In our article of 9 October 2023, we had stated that the award of the contract for the construction of sluice and pump station at Belle View, West Bank Demerara, violated the Procurement Act for two main reasons, the contractor’s lack of the requisite experience in undertaking works of this nature as stipulated in the bid documents; and the contractor’s bid was the third lowest responsive bid.
Last Monday was Budget Day 2024 – the day that everyone was looking forward to for an assessment of the performance of the country’s economy in 2023 and its state of affairs at the end of that year.
In last week’s article, we referred to the exchanges between Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-law Christopher Ram, and the Attorney General as to whether the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) has been overstated to the extent of ExxonMobil’s subsidiaries tax liabilities that are required to be paid over to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Before proceeding with today’s article, we would like to comment on the exchanges between Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-law Christopher Ram, and the Attorney General in relation to the apparent overstatement of the balance on the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) account.
On 11 December 2023, the audited public accounts for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2022 along with the report of the Auditor General thereon were presented to the National Assembly.
During the period between the passing of the vote of no confidence in the previous Government on 21 December 2018 and the swearing in of the President Irfaan Ali on 2 August 2020, we had carried a total of 40 articles on the election-rated matters, including the outcomes of the various court cases that were filed.
After a much deserved two months’ break, we resume our column today by commencing a review of the Auditor General’s report on the audit of the public accounts of Guyana for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2022.
Last week, former Nigerian oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, appeared in court in London charged with receiving bribes in the form of cash, luxury goods, flights on private jets and the use of high-end properties in Britain in return for awarding billions of dollars in oil contracts.