The Ministry of Indige-nous Peoples’ Affairs has been unable to properly account for the $865.1 million reportedly spent under the Hinterland Employment and Youth Services (HEYS) programme and amounts totalling $210.3 million that were released for projects in over 200 Amerindian villages, the 2017 Auditor General’s Report has said.
According to the report, which was presented to the National Assembly earlier this month, the ministry provided little in the way of progress reports on how the money was spent.
The report stated that the sum of $865.111 million was spent to pay the HEYS stipend to 1,900 students for the period January to December, 2017; to pay 230 HEYS staff; to cover business grants to individuals/communities to set up small projects; for the purchase of equipment and items for training; the printing of training documents; the launching of HEYS Phase II; and to cover meals and accommodations and travelling for the execution of the training programme. “The Ministry did not present progress reports for these projects; therefore it could not be determined whether the funds were utilised for the intended purposes,” the report, however, said.
