By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News |
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Ganesh Mahipaul has revealed that the Office of the Auditor General has failed to provide any formal acknowledgment or response to repeated statutory requests demanding an independent, forensic audit into the heavily delayed and controversial Belle Vue Pump Station project.
The multi-million-dollar drainage installation on the West Bank of Demerara—which has been mired in procurement irregularities and severe project overruns—remains incomplete long past its contractual completion schedule.
Speaking on the status of opposition petitions for administrative accountability, Mahipaul confirmed that the APNU parliamentary caucus formally wrote to Auditor General Deodat Sharma requesting comprehensive value-for-money and forensic examinations of several stalled drainage projects and state grant distributions, but has been met with total institutional silence.
Expanding the Audit Demands: From Belle Vue to Agricultural Cash Grants
Mahipaul noted that the parliamentary opposition’s audit requests extend far beyond the Belle Vue site, encompassing multiple troubled infrastructural projects across administrative regions:
- Stalled Drainage Infrastructure: The APNU has formally petitioned the Auditor General to execute specialized forensic audits into the Belle Vue Pump Station (Region Three), the Meten-Meer-Zorg Pump Station (Region Three), and the Charity Pump Station (Region Two).
- Agricultural Cash Grant Distributions: Mahipaul disclosed that the party specifically requested audits into the Ministry of Agriculture’s nationwide disbursement of cash grants, including relief funds directed toward cash-crop farmers, citing concerns over beneficiary verification, lack of published recipient lists, and potential financial leakages.
- No Formal Acknowledgment: Despite the constitutional standing of the Public Accounts Committee, Mahipaul emphasized that neither he as a parliamentary member nor the APNU has received any formal correspondence or receipt acknowledgment from the Audit Office regarding the requested probes.
“There are several suggestions that we in the APNU wrote to the Auditor General and requested of him to provide audits on the Belle Vue Pump Station, Meten-Meer-Zorg, Charity Pump Station…” Mahipaul stated. “We asked him to audit the cash grant distribution… there was also cash crop [grants].”
2025 Auditor General Report: Megaprojects Under the Lens
While the Auditor General’s office has not directly answered the opposition’s standalone audit petitions, both the Belle Vue Pump Station and the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project are itemized within the 2025 Auditor General Report, which is slated for tabling before the National Assembly in the coming sittings.
The forthcoming report is expected to expose technical non-compliance, contract variations, and contractor execution delays on key public sector investments funded through the Consolidated Fund and natural resource revenues.
Conflict of Interest: Rebuking Minister Edghill’s Seat on the PAC
Mahipaul also challenged the continued presence of Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill as an active member of the Public Accounts Committee, arguing that a dual executive-legislative role undermines the integrity of parliamentary oversight:
- Separation of Oversight and Execution: While acknowledging that Edghill is an elected Member of Parliament entitled to committee participation, Mahipaul argued that sitting on the PAC while concurrently managing one of the largest spending ministries creates an irreconcilable conflict of interest.
- Self-Audit Contradiction: As Public Works Minister, Edghill presides over vast infrastructural portfolios—including roads, bridges, and sea defense contracts—that are subject to audit and grilling before the very committee on which he sits.
“We are not comfortable with Minister Edghill still holding the ministerial portfolio…” Mahipaul asserted candidly. “Him being on the Public Accounts Committee as a Member of Parliament to do the works—fair enough. But him being Minister, we have a problem with him staying there.”
With the 2025 Auditor General Report set to arrive in Parliament, the opposition maintains that only independent, forensic investigations will resolve questions surrounding incomplete pump stations and ensure public funds are accounted for.
