Govt. could dodge questions on controversial projects

Mar 13, 2012 News

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Ministers not under obligation to answer – Ramjattan

The government could dodge questions on key projects which have not been publicly explained as Parliamentary rules do not make it obligatory for ministers to answer questions.
AFC lead Parliamentarian Khemraj Ramjattan is going as far as asking the government to release full contracts, such as that for the bungled Amaila Falls road project which is estimated to cost taxpayers $3 billion or more.

But Ramjattan, who has tabled the questions for answers at Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly, hopes for the best.
“I am hoping that they will answer, but if they don’t, that’s the eye-pass we have to deal with,” Ramjattan told Kaieteur News yesterday.
If the questions are not answered, Ramjattan said it would be up to the electorate to decide if that is what they want out of their leaders.
According to the Parliamentary Standing Orders, questions may be put to a minister relating to the responsibility with which he/she has been assigned.
The Standing Orders state that a Minister may decline to answer a question “if the publication of the answer would in his/her opinion be contrary to the public interest.”
The Parliamentary rules make it clear that questions may be put to ministers if the proper objective is to obtain information. If the Ministers choose to reply that they don’t have the answer, there is nothing that obligates him/her to provide the answer.
If a Minister does not have the answer at the time of the sitting of the National Assembly at which he/she is asked to provide the answer, that minister can undertake to provide the answer within 12 days.
Opposition parties are pressing the government to come clean on controversial multi-million dollar projects.
Ramjattan has moved to the National Assembly to demand answers from the government given its penchant for resisting full disclosures, including keeping signed deals secret, such as the project for the expansion of the country’s lone international airport at Timehri.
The AFC has made no bones about getting the government to fess up on large scale controversial projects, and by putting the questions down in writing it would be hoping the information would flow.
Specifically, Ramjattan has asked the questions of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robesonn Benn.
Ramjattan has asked that Minister Benn provide copies of the contract documents for the road leading to Amaila Falls, where the government intends to build a mega hydropower station to supply all of the country’s electricity demands.
The project was originally handed to Florida puja shop owner Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall for a total of US$15.4 million. The Bharrat Jagdeo administration had vociferously defended the project even though there were swirling questions about Motilall’s competence to execute the project.
However, the current Donald Ramotar-led government in January decided to pull the plug on Motilall, but not before he was already handed almost half of the contract sum.
Ramjattan wants Minister Benn to provide a breakdown of all payments made to date on the project.
On the airport expansion project, Ramjatan wants Prime Minister Hinds to provide copies of the agreement with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) to design and build a terminal at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.
The Jagdeo administration signed the US$138M contract with CHEC, but Guyanese only learnt about it after a report appeared in the Jamaican press in late November last year.
On the proposed Marriott Hotel project, Ramjattan has a string of questions. He is asking for Minister Benn to provide a copy of the agreement between the government and China Shanghai Construction Group for the construction of the hotel.
Ramjattan has also asked for the Minister to provide a copy of agreements entered into with Atlantic Hotel Incorporated, the company that the government set up to enter into the agreement with the Marriott. He has also asked for the Minister to say who the shareholders of Atlantic Hotel Incorporated are, and for the Minister to provide documented evidence of this.
In addition, Ramjattan has questions about the management fee, and to whom the payment would go for operating the projected US$52M hotel, and what rate of return taxpayers will get per annum.
Ramjattan wants to know if any feasibility or environmental impact studies were done prior to the agreement(s) being signed. If these were done, he has asked the Minister for a copy of each.
Further, in relation to the financing of the Marriott Hotel, Ramjattan has asked for the facts on the financing structure and arrangement of the project, namely, how much equity has been committed and by whom, how much will be borrowed from which bank, and whether  any (and how much) State funds have been spent and are committed.
Ramjattan has also asked to know if there is a government guarantee to any financial institution or Chinese company.
Other queries Ramjattan has, relates to the owners of the land on which the Marriott Hotel is to be built and for the Minister to provide a copy of transport or title or lease.

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