Office of the President refutes opposition figures on spending

Last Updated on Monday, 5 September 2022, 16:09 by Denis Chabrol

The Office of the President Monday afternoon rejected the claims by the opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) that millions of dollars have been spent by several agencies under that office.

Permanent Secretary of the Office of the President, Abena Moore says none of the monies allocated so far to the President’s Youth Advisory Council has been spent. She says the allocations for 2020 and 2021 have been returned to the Consolidated Fund.

“I can tell you off hand that the President’s Youth Advisory Council has not utilised any money since 2020. Not a cent was spent as yet,” she told Demerara Waves Online News. She added that the allocation to the Council for 2022 have also not been spent because the Council was recently launched.  People’s National Congress Reform activist Randolph Critchlow had claimed that GY$145 million have been spent by the Council between 2020 and 2022.

The Permanent Secretary says the figures that People’s National Congress Reform activist Randolph Critchlow mentioned at last Saturday’s public meeting are not correct. She said the mentioned GY$58 million by the Office of the First Lady and the GY$70 million by the Office of the Commissioner of Information were also inaccurate. “Those figures that you gave there- we have different figures,” she said.

Ms Moore said she has provided the figures to Press and Publicity Officer Suelle Findlay to disseminate. However, repeated efforts- calls and messages- to contact Ms Findlay proved futile.

APNU+AFC has challenged the government to account for GY$273 million that have been allocated to the President’s Youth Advisory Council, the Office of the First Lady and the Commissioner of Information.