After months of waiting for financial information on Suriname’s participation in CARIFESTA XV, the ministry has sent a report to media outlets. Key News had requested the financial report from the ministry by email. However, the document received does not provide a complete insight into how the money was spent. It mentions several amounts and various cost items, but does not state how much was spent on each item.
A financial account must make clear how much money was available and how that money was spent. The reader must be able to follow and verify the amounts. Simply reporting that expenses were incurred is not sufficient.
Difference between budget and expenditure
The report states that USD 62.217,20 was allocated. Of this, USD 14.558,70 was deducted for ticket costs. It then states that USD 47.658,50 was actually made available. Total expenditure is said to amount to USD 47.665,11. The document does not explain how the difference of USD 6,61 arose.
The ticket costs are also not specified. A total amount is stated, but not how many tickets were purchased, how many people travelled and what the individual tickets cost. Were the tickets economy class or business class? This is not stated. Without that information, it cannot be assessed how the amount of USD 14.558,70 was made up.
Cost items without amounts
The same applies to the other costs. The report mentions accommodation and lodging, transport and logistics, insurance, daily allowances, artistic and production support, media, communication, audiovisual support, rehearsal facilities, refreshments and other expenses. However, it does not state how much was spent on each of these items.
How much money, for example, was spent on transport? What amount went towards food and drinks? What exactly falls under the item ‘communication’? Does it concern telephone costs, promotion, media production or something else? And what is meant by ‘other expenses’?
Without further explanation, these remain general descriptions. This makes the document difficult to verify. A list of types of costs indicates what money may have been spent on, but not how much money actually went towards those items. As a result, it cannot be determined whether the expenditure corresponds with the available budget and how the amounts were made up.
Such clarity is particularly necessary when public funds are being spent. It is not only about whether an event was organised or a delegation participated in a festival. It is also about how public money was spent. Society must be able to see which amounts were paid and for what purpose.
History calls for clarity
Suriname has repeatedly had difficulty providing timely and complete financial accountability. Sometimes it takes a long time before information becomes available. In other cases, the explanation remains limited.
The financial problems surrounding CARIFESTA XI in 2013 and the investigations that followed show why proper administration and verifiable reporting are important. At the time, the Rekenkamer was unable to approve everything because much of the information had not been submitted.
That history makes it even more difficult to understand why a general list is now being circulated as a financial report.
How can the ministry believe that this is sufficient? And how can it send this document to media outlets as a financial report while essential information is missing? Merely stating total amounts provides insufficient insight. A list of cost items is not a complete account.
A verifiable overview is needed
What is needed is an overview stating the amount for each cost item, with an explanation of what falls under that item. For the tickets, it must be clear how many were purchased and what the individual costs were. The difference between the available amount and total expenditure should also be explained.
As long as that information is missing, society cannot determine exactly how much money was spent on what. That is not the level of transparency required for accountability in the use of public funds.
