No fraud at NDIA – Dr Ramsammy

Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy said there is no fraud at the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), as he dismissed as false, the allegations levelled against the entity’s Chief Executive Officer Lionel Wordsworth and junior Agriculture Minister Ali Baksh.

Speaking with this publication on Friday, Dr Ramsammy said Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma was tasked with doing a special audit of the entity following some allegations that surfaced about the misappropriation and misuse of funds. He said the AG’s report is not yet completed, but it is surprising that Kaieteur News would seek to repeat the allegations as opposed to following the established protocol in terms of awaiting the findings of the official audit.

Personal expenses

Dr Ramsammy said while it is true that two trucks were paid to transport some items from Food For The Poor to Minister Baksh’s residence in Campbellville, Georgetown, they were not for the minister. He stated the items were merely housed at Baksh’s home for a short while before they were donated and distributed to poor people residing at Enterprise, East Coast Demerara. Minister Ramsammy argued too that the ministry was asked to cover the transportation expenses and to lend assistance because it was a worthy cause.

Asked to respond to the allegations that the NDIA head misappropriated funds when the body bought office furniture totalling Gy$402,000 from Starcomm using funds from the Community Drainage and Irrigation Programme (CDIP),  Minister Ramsammy said the entity was merely replacing the furniture which it was utilising that belonged to the ministry.

He said the ministry currently houses several entities and semi-autonomous agencies, but does not charge rent or restrict them from utilising its resources and furniture. Dr Ramsammy reported that when he took office, he was operating out of a cubicle, since there was no suitable office space available for him.

Farewell

Dr Ramsammy is refuting allegations that the NDIA also misused CDIP funds to host a farewell party for a particular staff member and instead argued that the money was used to cover expenses relating to a period of time over which the ministry was hosting a technical team from Colombia.

The agriculture minister said the ministry would host meetings that run through lunch and sometimes late into the evenings, and it was normal for it to cover such expenses for overseas delegations that were engaged in work meetings with their local counterparts.

He said there was no merit to the claim that Wordsworth caused a breach to occur when the NDIA sourced a Phoenix payroll application. The minister reminded that it was the Field Auditor Pablo Singh, who had approved the purchase by not objecting to it, or raising concern.

The payroll application was bought from Phoenix Software for Gy$799,000 on January 19, 2012, at a reduced price after some negotiation between the NDIA and the company.

No basis

The agriculture minister also noted that there was no basis or truth in other allegations that the NDIA approved a Gy$2 million request for payments to the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary/ Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA), Region Five, without any documented reason, appropriation or a request from the region.

Dr Ramsammy reported that the CDIP programme is managed by the MMA/ADA, while explaining that the NDIA has an arrangement to overlook the programme there.

Minister Ramsammy said the audit being conducted by the auditor general will vindicate the NDIA, and all who were unjustly accused of wrong doing by Field Auditor Singh, who is no longer employed by the ministry.

Dr Ramsammy said the auditor leaked findings in his preliminary report and did not follow established protocols to have the issues raised in his report addressed. Further, it was found that there was another brewing conflict of interest involving Singh, and the board met and recommended that his contract not be renewed.