Ignoring the Procurement Commission laws for selfish reasons

Nov 30, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
As most Guyanese know, Government procurement is based on Principles, Government Rules of Sourcing (where they apply to the National Tender Board as controlled by the Ministry of Finance), the supervisory role of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), and good practice guidance. Collectively these provide a broad framework that supports accountability, transparency, sound practice and successful procurement results.
Nowhere in that collection of procurement principles is there a role for the Cabinet of the PPP Government – other than for the Minister of Finance to advise them of what procurement projects have followed the procurement law and what contracts are signed by the respective Permanent Secretaries.  There is no law that stipulates that the Cabinet must review the work of the National Procurement and Tender Board, constitutionally that is the role of the Public Procurement Commission, a role that was hijacked by the PPP Cabinet for devious reasons.
There can be no more clarity than Section 212 of the Guyana Constitution which clearly states that the PPC is to “monitor public procurement and the procedures therefore in order to ensure that the procurement of goods, services and execution of works are conducted in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective manner according to law and such policy guidelines as may be determined by the National Assembly.”
The PPP is fully aware of this, but continues to bamboozle the people with propaganda, distortions and untruths. These actions are contemptuous to say the least. These power grabbers will stop at nothing, they want everything for themselves.
Thus the comments from Minister Nandlall that the AFC’s position on the role of the cabinet in the awarding of public contracts is “incongruous and wrong both in principle and constitutionality” are an unfortunate disclosure from someone who was trained to know much better.  Not because one calls himself lawyer, means he/she has the right to twist the interpretation of the law to suit a particular end to the detriment of the people, common principle and common sense.
We want the PPP cabal to know that this is no hearsay about the role of the PPC, it is the law.  The PPC’s role is firmly enshrined in the Constitution and not because the PPP says the constitutional functionality of the PPC cannot be obtained means that the PPC must not be established.
The PPP is not Guyana, and the earlier the minority PPP regime gets accustomed to that fact, the better it will be for the nation and the people. The PPP ought to know that it was not given a mandate to dictate to the people, but to govern democratically and in the interests of all, and not just for a privileged few who are their friends and relatives.
We humbly advise the Minister of Legal Affairs to seriously take note that the AFC leader, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan’s public pronouncement on the PPC is solidly grounded in constitutionality, in principle and facts that are indisputable and not hearsay.
Since 2004, the PPP has been peddling the gross untruth that the party remains committed to the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, but a decade later there is still none, and Guyanese are yet to see the fruits of that commitment. There is no primary flaw in the Procurement Laws; that is a figment of the PPP’s imagination. The law was established and passed in Parliament with the full support of the PPP to bring greater independence to the procurement process, but now that some greedy and corrupt ones in the regime realize their gravy train will be under the spotlight, with independent voices interrogating the procurement deals in dispute, they have reneged on their promise. The PPP cabal knows that they are cornered and their deceptions are constantly being exposed. Any first year law student will tell Mr. Nandlall that his convoluted interpretation of the procurement law is outright baloney.
Our humble advice to the leaders of the majority opposition, Mr. David Granger and Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, is if they fail to secure the full establishment of the Public Procurement Commission now, they will be harshly judged by the people, since the PPP is totally committed to castrating the PPC.
They cannot allow the minority regime to deny them the right to secure better value for money for all the people of Guyana and if they have to use any and every legal means necessary to achieve their goal, then so be it. Now is the time for the combined opposition to teach the PPP a stern lesson on morality and on how to govern as a minority.
This corrupt cabal must not be allowed to bulldoze their way in or outside of Parliament. In Guyanese parlance, they must be taught manners. They must be told in no uncertain terms by the opposition that they are the servants of the people and therefore their first duty is to protect the interests of the people and not squander the taxpayers’ money on crooked projects designed to benefit themselves, relatives and friends. Remember who those multiple radio frequencies were given to.
Now is the time for the majority opposition to show their mettle and set the political tone and direction of the country. Now is the time for the opposition to tell the PPP cabal—No more awarding of contracts without the Procurement Commission, no more granting of medical contracts to one entity alone to import three billion dollars in drugs for the hospitals, no more control of NICIL finances by one individual, no more raping of the treasury, no more squandering of the taxpayers’ money on white elephants like the Skeldon Sugar Factory, the idle Enmore Sugar Packaging Plant, the collapsing Supenaam Stelling, the dried-up Amalia Falls, and the unfinished Marriott Hotel.
If these corrupt practices continue, then something urgently needs to be done. People, stand up for your rights, do not allow this regime to destroy our beautiful Guyana any further.
Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

 

 

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