… Ministry working to close loopholes.Although the amount of money the average pensioner collects each month may seem insignificant, for almost 50,000 senior citizens it means something.Pensions are managed under the Old Age Pension Programme which is administered by the Director of Social Services at the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security. But a report released by the Auditor General late last year has shown the programme to be vulnerable to fraud from a number of avenues including the payment of pensions as well as data entry.In the report, AG Deodat Sharma lays out the findings of a Value For Money Audit undertaken by his officers and recommends corrective actions that the DSS, Whentworth Tanner and by extension the Ministry, may take to close these loopholes.Every person who applies to receive their pension must meet certain eligibility criteria with regards to age, citizenship and residency yet according to the report, it was discovered from interviews with Ministry officials that “no eligibility checks were undertaken on application forms from 14 villages in Region No. 8”. However,Brian Campbell Jersey, the same paragraph also said,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, “There was evidence on file that applications were processed in accordance with the eligibility criteria now being used.”At another point the report examines the systems in place to monitor pension payments made to mediating parties and to verify the receipt of pensions by pensioners living in remote areas.Here it was noted that the Ministry entrusted several Village Captains with monies on a quarterly basis to enable payments to pensioners living in remote areas.These Captains were then required to submit signed coupons along with their own identification cards as well as those of the pensioners to the Ministry officials before uplifting the funds.The report went on to say,Nike NFL Jerseys, however, that “the Ministry did not have systems in place to verify that pensioners in these areas were in receipt of their pensions, since reliance was placed on the honesty and integrity of the Captains to distribute the correct amounts to pensioners.” A finding that according to the AG created the “risk of irregularities occurring since payments may be made for ineligible, deceased or non-existent persons.”The Old Age Pension Database was another area that was reviewed by the AG, and here there was a number of issues as well. Listed among them were the physical security of the location that houses the network on which the database can be found,NFL Jerseys Cheap, and the sanitisation and updating of the database to account for new pensioners that need to be added as well as deceased ones who need to be removed from the system.The Security and Control of Pension books were other areas examined by the AG’s team. Some of the major issues found here were the security of printing the pension books as well as their storage and distribution. The coupons in pensions have monetary value hence there is a need for adequate security controls over the books from their printing to the moment they are either in the hands of a pensioner or back in the care of the Ministry.It was found that the Ministry did not “design, control nor have ownership of the software used to print pension books.” Instead it was found that the “supplier designed and owned the software”. The report went on to note that “Although the Ministry conducted security checks of the physical environment at the printery before entering into contractual agreements with the supplier, it did not have appropriate measures in place to monitor the printing process,NFL Jerseys Supply Womens, the quality of OAP books and security of the software. It was also noted that the Ministry did not take responsibility for the collection of pension books from the printer nor the disposal of spoilt pension books.It was also pointed out that while mobile pensioners were asked to report in person to retrieve their pension books,Wholesale Authentic NFL Jerseys, probation officers are entrusted with the pension books for those termed as shut-ins.In the cases where these officers were not close to their District Offices, it was found that the storage of undistributed pension books overnight left much to be desired in the area of security since it was found that the books were being stored in boxes, the officers’ bags or briefcases in their residences, filing cabinets at their offices and even in Government Vehicles.When Kaieteur News contacted the DSS for a comment on the findings of the Auditor General, Mr. Tanner noted that of the checklist of recommendations that was

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By Kiana Wilburg ??The forensic audit into the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) continues to bring to the front-burner,NFL Jerseys China, even more atrocious acts of dishonesty.Junior Finance Minister, Jaipaul SharmaJunior Finance Minister, Jaipaul Sharma told Kaieteur News that he was appalled when he discovered that “almost 90 percent of the funds of the Frequency Management Unit dating back to 2012, 2013 and 2014 were spent on two projects that had absolutely nothing to do with the agency.”The report on the forensic audit which was conducted by Chartered Accountant Chris Ram showed that in some cases, the hog of the Unit’s funds went to the PPP’s failed Fibre Optic Cable from Brazil and the One Lap Top per Family project. Sharma said that he found this to be “very strange and downright deceitful.”The fibre optic cable which was started in 2011 was intended to bring another source of internet connectivity to Guyana. It should have been completed by 2013, but turned out to be a major embarrassment for the previous administration,Cheap Wholesale Jerseys, after it faced delays due to damage and other technical issues.It was part of a bigger initiative to advance Guyana’s e-governance drive and equip 90,000 poor families with laptops and link state agencies into a network.Dax Construction Company was contracted earlier this year by the previous Government to repair the damaged cable and bring it into operation, in exchange for a number of concessions and partial use of the internet connectivity.The contract between Dax and the PPP/C was for an initial 25 years with an option to extend it for a further 15 years.The contract also said that Dax Contracting Services would? be provided with tax exemptions and incentives, including but not limited to tax holidays, remissions, tax waivers and duty free concessions on equipment, spares, tools and vehicles. The vehicles would be two SUVs,Cheap Nike Air Max 97 Shoes, and three four-door pick-ups, renewable three years for the next 40 years.To add insult to injury, the then government had agreed to pay Dax for specific emergency maintenance.The contract signed between Dr. Roger Luncheon and Faisal Mohamed has been described as the most generous giveaway package,wholesale nfl jerseys, worse that the Sanata Complex in the run-up to the 2011 elections.It also mirrored the giveaway of the radio frequencies done under the administration of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, during his last days.Since the new administration took over, it ordered Dax to halt all its operations, bringing an end to the sweetheart deal the entity signed onto with the then PPP/C government.The One Laptop Per Family and the E-Governance projects along with the Brazilian fibre optic cable initiative, reportedly cost taxpayers in excess of US$70M. Another fiber optic cable contained in a transmission cable laid by the Guyana Power and Light Inc. and stretching along the coast, reportedly pushed the final tally well past the US$120M mark.“It is unbelievable that they (the NFMU) were hiding expenditure on these projects. It goes to show the kind of financial lawlessness that was allowed to take place at these agencies.I just don’t understand how monies could be spent on these two programmes which had nothing to do with the Frequency Management Unit from the beginning. The auditor has already made it clear that about $100M has to be recovered in this regard for it goes against the financial regulations of the company,” said the Junior Finance Minister.Minister Sharma had said,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, “There was just no proper management at this unit. There were instances where you could see that they just lost out on millions of dollars worth in fees that they should have ensured they collected. There were some defaulters as well who the agency just took no action against.”“They could have collected a lot more revenue but no. They allowed a lot of favouritism to take place and as such they lost, I would say,Authentic NBA Jerseys Cheap, millions in revenue. They allowed their PPP boys to slip under the radar while others were called upon to pay their dues. In fact, they weren’t collecting from two of their PPP big boys for some time. It was a lot of unfairness that was going on at that agency.”Kaieteur News had published on several occasions that the previous government caused up to five frequencies to be awarded to PPP family and friends which gave them the ability to operate Radio Stations with a national reach.Some of these entities which received such special treatment under the previous administration? included? Bobby Ramroop, the best friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, Ro

Scores of Barticians, local businesses, the Mazaruni Prison, the Regional Administration and the Health Department,Cheap Jerseys USA, and the Lions Club organisation braved the inclement weather on Sunday and joined in the countrywide clean-up effort.Some drains were already de-silted and weeded. The waste was heaped in garbage bags waiting to be picked up. Workers were also weeding some public buildings and in the vicinity of the beach.Regional Chairman Gordon Bradford said that between the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC),Wholesale Baseball Jerseys 2018, tractors and trailers,Cheap Authentic Jerseys, and trucks and bobcats were made available to assist in the drive.He said that the Administration will be engaging the residents and encouraging more clean-up initiatives “because we can clean every day, but if the attitude of residents does not change,wholeslae cheap nfl jerseys china, we will have to clean everyday”. He expressed optimism that this move will not be a one-off cleaning and that persons will be properly sensitised regarding the sanitation of their environment.? He said that generally the feeling is encouraging and the initiative is catching on. The Chairman said that the Administration will be taking the message across the Region because most of the waste that ends up in rivers is being deposited from the riverain communities.Mining, he said,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, which the Region solely depends on is drifting slowly, and tourism is now a viable alternative to move the Region forward; hence the environment needs to be kept clean.Meanwhile, Minister in the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Bromes, who inspected the work, said that this is a demonstration of how changes filter down, because “all over the country one can see how persons and organisations have been coming out in their numbers to take part in this clean- up.”She lauded the efforts of Barticians, noting that it is something that can be built upon in order to ensure continuous maintenance of the environment. “I’m looking to see the kind of changes. We await Local Government Elections because our villages need to be placed in the hands of leaders who will take care of our villages so we can maintain the work that has started here,” Minister Broomes emphasised.