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It continues to be nothing short of shameful the way the Government is paying out the $25,000.00 COVID-19 grant. Not only has the payout been lacking any semblance of proper planning, coordination and equitable disbursement but it could very well create opportunities for corrupt practices. It is no wonder Transparency International in its 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) Report flagged Guyana in this area.
Though Guyana has improved one point, moving from 40 to 41 in 2020, Transparency International has urged greater transparency in the management of the cash grant. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government in its strong and wrong headedness continues to ignore public appeals to disburse the money with transparency. They continue to ignore appeals by the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Opposition to have the Auditor General (AG) Office audit the spending.
The government ignores man in the street concerns and the alleged incidents of corruption by distributors of the grant. They are apparently ignoring the alleged instances and incidents exposed on social media about what has been going wrong with the disbursement. The Government seems to be ignoring everything that could keep Guyana on a positive trajectory as inherited from the APNU+AFC Coalition Government. The government is operating as though it does not care or is choosing to return to notoriety.
It was during the PPP/C government Guyana, for many years, was ranked the most corrupt country in the English-speaking Caribbean. Not unexpectedly, the party and government might shrug off the urging of Transparency International. Over the years they have become thick skinned or uncaring about their corrupt reputation. It is left up to Guyanese, who hate this stain on Guyana’s image, to agitate for ethical refocusing in the management and disbursement of the payout.
Whilst the past cannot be undone, the past is also prologue. There must be a new way to oversight the spending. What can be done now is the AG Office moving with haste to conduct the requested audit. Though in the social media spheres some have expressed no-confidence in the Auditor General he has to prove his professionalism is superior to the opinion of the skeptical.
There is a photograph doing the social media round of the Auditor General in a chummy gathering with the former Member of Parliament of the APNU+AFC Government who voted with the PPP/C Opposition in 2018 to bring that government down. But there is enough evidence in societies where decent people do not allow friendship and association to get in the way of their professionalism. The Auditor General may very well be in that small but highly respected group.
The Auditor General is responsible for auditing government work to ensure the state’s money is legally and properly spent as defined by the Laws. It is his responsibility to ensure that $25,000.00, which is the taxpayers’ money not the PPP/C’s, has been properly disbursed. This means those that are supposed to receive the grant as specified in the programme receive it. It means every cent; every dollar is properly accounted for.
There have been numerous stories shared of households not receiving the money. What needs to be known is what happened to that sum. There are too stories of people collecting the grant more times than they should. If that is true, how has this happened? Transparency and accountability are important in getting to the truth of the disbursement. Transparency and accountability are important in the fight against corruption.
The AG Office should be concerned about the cash grant spending. Whilst transparency may be of no interest to the government the AG Office was appealed to, very early, to oversight the spending and ensure it was being properly done. The main Opposition has been advocating for transparency and should continue. The man and woman in the street should continue to use social media to share stories as they unfold. That is a platform to speak truth to power and help in bringing about a more responsible and less corrupt government.
