No money, no information.
The Commissioner of Information, Charles Ramson SC has denied a request made by Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) under the Access to Information Act for a copy of a US$660,000 contract for a financial management system for government ministries; Ramson cited budget cuts.
President of TIGI Anand Goolsarran made the request via a letter to Ramson last Monday. TIGI in a statement to the media said its directors have decided to release the correspondence to the public. “We have learnt through the media that two of the seven modules of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMAS), which was implemented in 2004, have not been activated. These are the Purchasing and Asset & Inventory modules,” Goolsarran said.
“Since IFMAS is an integrated automated system involving all seven modules, we would like to understand why these two modules were not implemented; bearing in mind that purchasing, assets and inventory are perhaps the most important aspect of the Government’s financial management system, accounting for some 70 per cent of the national budget,” he wrote.
“Because of the above, we respectfully request that you provide us with a copy of the contract for US$660,000 between
