The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport expended $8.1M for vehicle spares and repairs for 2002 although there was no proper record-keeping system in place to monitor expenses, says the Auditor General.

And because of the absence of a system, it was not possible to monitor the cost of maintenance of each vehicle and to determine whether it was economical to retain certain vehicles or to dispose of them. Although the ministry's Accounting Officer said that these records were being maintained, at the time of reporting in July of last year, they were not presented for audit.

These are among the findings of the Auditor General's report recently presented to the National Assembly.

Travelling and meals allowance claims came up to $4.2M while transportation amounted to $2.6M. The report further stated that the rates paid did not reflect the approved rates for travelling and meal allowances for overtime work. According to the report, the approved rates for travelling and meal allowances are $100 and $70 respectively.

Instead the ministry paid $250 and $400 respectively, in contravention of the approved rates. Further examination revealed that an allowance of $250 is given to employees who worked on Saturdays. The ministry said that because overtime was not paid to staff, the increase in the meal allowance compensated for the overtime lost.

For last year, staffing at the ministry stood at 79% of the authorised staff strength. The report said that the actual level of staffing would have an adverse impact on the operations of the ministry in terms of the level of internal controls.

At the time of the audit, 28 payment vouchers valued at $3.24M for 2002 were not presented to the Auditor General, despite repeated requests. As a result of this, a proper examination of the related expenditure could not have been carried out to determine whether value was received. "It is recommended that a special effort be made to locate these vouchers and supporting documents and to present them for audit examination," the report says.

The ministry spent an amount of $7.9M for the purchase of fuel and lubricants, according to the report. Included in this amount was the sum of $6.8M with which fuel was purchased on credit from the Guyana Oil Company (GUYOIL), the report states. These purchases were for the ministry's operations for "Youth Entrepren-eurial Skills Training". However, the ministry did not maintain a fuel account to monitor receipt of fuel and to permit timely reconciliation with the statements submitted by the supplier, according to the report's account.

Amounts totalling $19.9M were expended on utility charges, $14.8 for electricity, $4M for telephone calls and $1M for water. Security services for the ministry came up to $32.2M. The report states that for 2002, the ministry continued to operate a special project bank account No.3174 to account for the allocation of funds from various sources, including the Guyana Lotteries Commission. It says that the proceeds from the Guyana Lotteries Commission should have been paid over to the Consolidated Fund and any use of the funds should have been subject to appropriations from Parliament.

A total of $19.8M was received from the Guyana Lotteries Commission for 2002 and for the year, the ministry also received funds totaling $29.7M from other sources, including the Ministry of Finance, Banks DIH Limited, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education. The report states that the funds from the Guyana Lotteries Commission were used for assisting in the Mashramani celebrations, rehabilitating the National Park, for Independence Day celebrations and for the construction of a swimming pool among other uses.

The Auditor General's report also says that while the ministry's Special Projects account was reconciled up to December 2002, the reconciliation statements were not checked and certified by supervising personnel. It revealed also that there was a lack of proper segregation of duties, since one officer prepared receipts and payment vouchers and recorded transactions in the cash book. Receipt numbers were not always quoted in the cash book and there were 25 payment vouchers valued at $2M, which were not produced for audit examination.

A total of $6M was allocated for works at Fort Island, Fort Nassau and Fort Kyk-Over-Al. The report states that in 2000 the full provision was paid into the National Trust's bank account, where it remained until June 2002.

In July 2002, the National Trust transferred $3M by cheque to the Regional Administration for Region Three (Essequibo Islands/ West Demerara) to facilitate works to the Court of Policy Hall on Fort Island.

The National Trust falls under the ministry's purview. The report states that the ministry's failure to repay the unexpended provision was in breach of Section 36 of the Financial Administration and Audit Act (FA&AA), which requires that all unspent balances at the end of the year be refunded to the Consolidated Fund. The report states too that the change of programme to include works to the Court of Policy Hall and access bridge was not approved. At the time of reporting, the unspent amount of $2.5M was not transferred to the Consolidated Fund.