Sparks fly as Budget debate begins…
“We gon jail alyuh as soon as we find everything”
– Ramjattan tells Opposition MPs
It seems as if Vice President and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan has cast a shadow of fear on some members of the opposition during their very first sitting of the National Assembly.
The language used by Ramjattan is one which many who write letters to the editors of the daily newspapers and indeed many social media users longed to hear. With such talk, he was able to shut the mouths of many vociferous opposition members.
Basically, Ramjattan promised to ensure that those who are found to have misappropriated state resources are placed behind bars.
It was the second session of yesterday’s sitting and Junior Minister of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma took the floor.
He touched on many things, but perhaps the highlight of Sharma’s presentation was his talk about the ongoing forensic audits.
This riled up the opposition.
But even before Sharma took to the floor, Opposition Member Irfaan Ali had criticized the government for the execution of the financial audit.The essence of Ali’s denunciation was that the administration went about it in a way that lacked the transparency it promised would be the cornerstone of its governance.
Sharma then told the House that the new administration was confronted with allegations and evidence of corruption and bad governance by the last Administration and therefore moved to institute internal forensic audit examinations.
He said that these audits focus on the fiscal accountability and transparency, performance and efficiency of publicly-owned entities, statutory bodies, projects and activities financed by or through public funds.
The Junior Minister said that the audits are essentially stocktaking exercises and the majority cover a period of four years.
Further, he stated that the audits are expected to establish, at a minimum, the true financial position of these entities.
Sharma said that other benefits likely to flow from the exercise, include the identification of revenue and the restoration of public funds.
He said that the opposition’s talk that the audits were given exclusively to critics of the former Government could not have been farther away from the truth.
“In identifying Accounting firms and individuals to carry out the Forensic Audits and review, contracts were made and interviews were carried out with Ram and Mc Rae as an accounting firm, Nigel Hinds Financial Services, Maurice Solomon, PKF Barcellos, Narine & Co., Harry Parmesar, D. Bahadur & Co., TSD Lall, Nizam Alli & Co., HLB R. Seebarran & Co. in addition, to four retired and former senior staff of the Audit office of Guyana including Dr. S.A. Goolsarran former Auditor General of Guyana, and three other qualified Accountants and others who expressed interest in being a part of these audits and review,” said Sharma.
He stressed that all efforts were made to have a very wide participation from the Chartered Accounting firms taking into account possible conflicts of interest, capacity and time constraints.
“However, as can be seen, there are a limited number of Chartered Accounting firms in Guyana, therefore it was taken into consideration to include individuals, since forensic auditing does not require one to be in possession of a practicing certificate from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana.
As Sharma spoke, the Opposition erupted and heckling prevailed, but while jabs came from left right and centre from that side of the House, Ramjattan’s response was enough to get things back under control.
While opposition members shouted things like “It is a waste of time and money!”
Ramjattan responded “Wait nah, wait, we gon jail alyuh as soon as we find everything.”
But Ramjattan did not stop there, later on in the evening, the Minister shouted “Thief, thief! Y’all is thief!” He made these exclamations as former Minister Ganga Persaud spoke of the crime situation.
Ramjattan’s contention
was that the previous administration
“set a bad example.”
He said,
“Y’all thief too much
and is y’all
de street bandits following.”
These guys are jokers.