| – or agency risks losing $162M budget subsidy “The public needs to know why we are giving away more of its money, we need to provide that accountability if the government is not going to.”- Greenidge By Abena Rockcliffe The joint parliamentary opposition is saying that it will not support any allocations set aside for the state-owned National Communication Network (NCN) in budget 2013 unless the investigative report on financial irregularities is made available.At a press briefing yesterday, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) disclosed its position on approving allocations reflected in the budget to be spent by NCN.Suspended Programme Manager, Martin GoolsarranThe party’s shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge, said that APNU is demanding a copy of the investigative report on NCN’s financial irregularities. He said, too, that the content of the report will play an integral role in deliberations on how much money would be allocated to NCN.In addition, during a subsequent phone call, leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan, disclosed that the NCN report is just one of the considerations to be examined by the party.Ramjattan used words such as unbalanced and inequitable to describe the state owned media. He added that it is believed that the company’s revenues can sustain it and it doesn’t need budgetary allocations.The 2013 budget reflects $162M in allocations to NCN, half of which is estimated under current expenses and the other half under capital expenses.Since last May a report detailing financial irregularities at NCN was submitted to President Donald Ramotar, who is also the Minister of Communication. The probe was restrained to the Terms of Reference that sought to ascertain the relationship between Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and NCN.In a leaked report– prepared during the first half of the year– it was revealed that on the part of NCN, one area of irregularity was traced back to GT&T and involved millions of dollars in advertisements specifically for the Jingle and Song competition and aired segments of the said reality show.NCN’s Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Sattaur, who was found to have had knowledge of the financial irregularities, resigned in June. The entity’s Programme Manager, Martin Goolsarran,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, who admitted that he had deposited the payment cheque from the telephone company into his personal account, has been suspended without pay.However, findings of the investigations submitted to Ramotar would determine the future of the men. Many are waiting to see whether the findings would be sent to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Guyana Police.Former NCN boss, Mohamed SattaurMere weeks ago, President Donald Ramotar told media operatives that he was shocked that the matter is still ongoing. He related that the issue is being handled and it would be concluded in the near future.Without revealing details of the investigations, Ramotar said that he would like to see accountability at NCN, which will help with confidence and credibility.However, APNU is contending that the government is avoiding putting the results of the report out to the public primarily because it doesn’t want to be forced to take action against the persons involved.It was mentioned yesterday at the press conference that some time ago, Minister of Housing Irfaan Ali had said that the President did what needed to be done.But the APNU’s stance as purported by Greenidge, is that it needs to see and examine the report. “The public needs to know why we are giving away more of its money, we need to provide that accountability if the government is not going to.”He said that if the reports suggest that NCN can’t stand on its own it’s a “different matter.” |
