– Auditor GeneralDuring a recent barrage of impromptu questions in the National Assembly by Volda Lawrence of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee dismissed the need for an audit into the $90M allocated to the Guyana Police Force, but the Auditor General says ‘not so fast.’This publication spoke with the Auditor General Deodat Sharma who says that he has every intention of probing the allocation which has garnered a significant amount of attention recently and further asserted that the Home Affairs Minister cannot prevent him from conducting an audit into how the funds were disbursed and utilized.The Auditor General says that he is empowered by the laws of Guyana to conduct such audits and that the Home Affairs Minister cannot prevent this.Sharma did say that he has taken no umbrage to the statements by the Minister, saying he took it to mean that Rohee was opining that the opposition might have been satisfied with his explanations of how the money was utilized.Auditor General Deodat SharmaNonetheless, Sharma says that he and his team are currently conducting audits of the 2011 expenditures and he has already indicated that he has set his sights on the $90M which has been causing so much controversy recently.The Auditor General opined that the probe of $90M should not take too long and assured that the uncovering of any malfeasance will lead to a full scale police investigation aimed at prosecution.Sharma said that he is cognizant of the fact that it would be a situation of asking the police to investigate police.Sharma said that with the laws on his side he can conduct an in-depth examination of the money, while promising he will be thoroughly scrutinizing the money trail.On Thursday last Minister Rohee provided additional information given the insistence of the opposition on clarity as it relates to the money which was allocated for the purposes of feeding inlyned ranks during the November 2011 election period.The contentious issue is the claim by some Divisional Commanders, especially Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine, that they were not provided with monies to properly look after the welfare of their ranks during the period of inlying prior, during and after the November 28 general and regional elections.Two weeks after the allegations were made the Guyana Police Force belatedly refuted the claims and provided a breakdown of how the money was allocated to each Division and specific departments of the Guyana Police Force.Police Headquarters received – $9,500,251; “A” Division-$8,526,676; “B” Division-$3,459,851; “C” Division-$2,299,465; “D” Division-$1,199,037; “E&F” Division-$1,696,888; “G” Division-$1,136,Shoes Clearance Sale Uk,623; TSU-$4,176,144 and Special Constabulary-$496,887.“The remaining sum of $10,516,178 is still in the Force’s accounting system,” the police had stated.The Ministry of Home Affairs had sought the $90M from the contingencies fund to “meet additional expenditure for the General and Regional Elections 2011; for feeding Rural Constables working on Elections day; for feeding of police ranks inlyned and to meet expenditure associated with intensification of patrols in and around the city.”Minister of Home Affairs Clement RoheeAccording to the Home Affairs Ministry, $39,649,200 was to take care of budgetary shortfall to run the routine operations of the Guyana Police Force under Line Item 6261-local travel and subsistence.This shortfall the Ministry said was brought to the attention of the Finance Ministry as early as the second quarter of 2011.Eight million dollars catered for the transport and travelling of ranks, specific to General and Regional Elections activities.This left $43,008,000 to feed the police ranks who were inlyned. “This expenditure also catered for the provision of rations for police ranks who were required to travel to outlying areas of the interior of the country to protect the integrity of the elections process,” the Ministry said in a statement yesterday.The Ministry stated that it is customary for the provision for the feeding of ranks to be done in a manner consistent with the size, needs and peculiarities of each divisional cluster.With direct reference to the allegation made by Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine that he did not receive money from the Force for the elections, the organisation provided evidence of a cheque in the sum of $320,000 which was endorsed by the Commander himself and encashed by his Divisional Finance Rank.The cheque was encashed by the Division’s Finance Officer, Inspector Mark Anthon.Ramnarine has since acknowledged that he did endorse the cheque.Although Ramnarine was the only Commander to go on record with his claims, other Commanders who had asked not to be named had also indicated that monies they had requested were never provided by the Force.Although one particular division received in excess of $8M from the police elections fund allocation, its Commander was on television thanking members of the business community for their assistance in the provision of goods.Ramnarine had claimed that he was advised by Commissioner of Police Henry Greene to seek the assistance of the public to ensure that his ranks were adequately catered for, since the Force was not provided with the funds it had requested.He said that he was assisted by the business community to the tune of more than $1.5M.Ramnarine’s Division covers areas in Regions One, Eight, Nine and Ten and caters for over 600 persons over a seven day period, thus, the $320,000 coupled with the $1,193,628 in dry ration and $183,260 in goods from other creditors appears miniscule.
