Budget cuts to Audit Office will hamper scrutiny of oil industry

While the Audit Office of Guyana has the independence to put together its own budget, its request for money is never granted in full. It has been subject to several cuts in the last few years.

But Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo says that these cuts will have dire implications for the Constitutional Agency that is mandated to ensure transparency and accountability for the expenditure of tax dollars by the government. At a press conference held Thursday, Jagdeo said that the cuts will also have implications for the Audit Office’s level of preparedness in monitoring the oil and gas sector that is notorious for corruption. The former Head of State said, “Budget cuts would impair the Audit Office’s capability to even do the current work much less new work that is required of them because of the new oil and gas sector. So even the scrutiny that it is doing now would be impaired because they can’t do special investigations…” In addition to this, Jagdeo said that if the government wants to make cuts then it should do so to its expenses for transportation and dietary needs which have increased by the billions since 2014. He opined that the cuts to transparency agencies like the Audit Office give an idea of what the government views as priority. Auditor General, Deodat Sharma has said that he finds himself between a rock and a hard place.

(Kaieteur News)