IDPADA-G may sue govt for undisbursed budgeted funds; poised to become pressure group

Last Updated on Thursday, 13 October 2022, 21:14 by Denis Chabrol

The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly- Guyana (IDPADA-G) on Thursday said it was mulling whether to take the government to court for refusing to transfer the full amount of money that was approved by the National Assembly in the 2022 National Budget to that organisation.

In light of no response from government to requests for disbursements for September and October 2022 or an explanation why none was provided, that organisation said it was forced to send home 10 of the 20 workers to reduce its operational costs, and shift its focus to volunteerism and advocacy rather than the implementation of projects. “Given the apparent attempt to discontinue the subvention, legal advice is being sought,” he said, adding that IDPADA-G would get legal advice before next weekend on whether it should move to the courts. IDPADA-G’s Chief Executive Officer, Olive Sampson added that of the GY$8 million subvention, the monthly wage bill was about GY$4 million which included tax and social security. Among those to be paid are teachers who are providing remedial education to youths at Sophia, Greater Georgetown and Kildonan, East Berbice.

The organisation’s Chairman said that despite his best efforts President Irfaan Ali has not met with him to discuss additional funding for the entity, the state of the people of African descent in Guyana, the kinds of actions that government should take to address those issues. “In the face of what has occurred, it is important for us to step up the advocacy in that regard and in some regards our shift would be more towards that advocacy than what we have been doing in the past,” he said.

At the just-concluded annual members meeting, he said the organisation passed a resolution calling on government to continue the funding until 2025 and comply with the 2022 Appropriations Act through which budgeted expenses were approved by the National Assembly. “There is a legal obligation that Parliament has approved. Therefore, we are confident that in that circumstance there is no option but to restore the subvention for 2022,” he said. He added that the Guyana government obligated, even if moral, to provide the funds at least up to 2024.

The IDPADA-G Chairman  said former full-time staff could now formulate grant proposals for projects that they could execute through that organisation. He said fund-raising efforts have begun to sustain the “remodeled” operations of that association.

More than two years after that organisation was established under the People’s National Congress Reform-led coalition to pursue some of the objectives of the United Nations-designated International Decade f0r People of African Descent (2015-2024), the incumbent People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration has said that after spending GY$500 million , Afro-Guyanese have little to show that their needs were being addressed.

But, IDPADA-G has been highlighting beneficial projects such as remedial evening classes, scholarships, small business development and promotion, flood-relief data gathering, training of skilled persons, and conferences and seminars on a variety of subjects. He said the organisation was awaiting response to its application for accreditation to train seafarers.

Mr Alexander indicated that despite the fact that IDPADA-G’s audited financial statements show that the organisation has a clean bill of health and a Ministry of Finance-led investigation found no irregularities in the spending of the monies, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has recklessly stated that board members of that not-for-profit company are beneficial owners and misappropriated the government subvention. “He made no reference to the five-year period which the subvention spans, creating the impression that it was a one-year subvention of $500 million” Mr Alexander said.

He noted that hours after the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport requested the audited financial statements and Articles of Incorporation on August 19, 2022 Mr Jagdeo “waved pages” of those financial documents at a news conference

IDPADA-G has since refused Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson’s instruction to hand over detailed financial records such as payroll, payment vouchers, contracts and receipts for expenditure be handed over to the ministry. Mr Alexander recalled that his organisation informed the minister that the Ministry of Finance’s Central Internal Audit Unit had already conducted and reported on an investigation into the receipts and disbursements of funds for 2018 to 2021. A copy of the report, he said, was forwarded to the Minister since his request duplicated what had already been done by the Finance Ministry. Mr Alexander said IDPADA-G has also volunteered to provide the financial records of 2022 audited by a mutually agreed to auditor.