Where is the contradiction Dr. Randy?

Sep 09, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

If Dr. Randy Persaud is the PPP’s new journeyman recruited to counter criticisms of the government, then his superiors had better continue their search. In response to one of my columns, not only has he missed the plane, he has missed the airport.
Whatever contradictions he finds between the suggestion that the Auditor General should request help from the Americans to ascertain what was paid for the Stanleytown Pump, and the claim by this newspaper that it had sourced the said components for a fraction of the original cost, is obviously the product of trying too hard to defend a government that is with each growing day demonstrating how the art of governance can be reduced to child’s play.
The Auditor General has a responsibility and is empowered to examine whether the government got value for money in relation to this pump. The Auditor General is also empowered to determine whether a hoax has been perpetuated on Guyanese taxpayers and who is/are the person or persons responsible. Any investigation launched by the Auditor General would inevitably have to address these two aspects.
In respect to the value-for-money audit, the Auditor General will have to examine the tendering process for this project to ascertain whether the National Procurement Board acted properly in recommending a bid – if it did recommend a bid – which was the sole bid, considering the price tag attached to that bid. The evaluation process is thus likely to come under scrutiny. The Auditor General will also have to question the oversight role that the Cabinet may have played in granting a no objection to the recommended bidder.
The Auditor General will have to determine also whether the bid was overpriced. In so doing, the Auditor General will have to investigate whether an identical or similar pump could have been sourced at a cheaper cost without sacrificing performance. He does not necessarily need the help of the Americans to do this, but a little help from the Commercial Division within the United States Embassy will not do any harm.
The Auditor General also has to examine the actual price paid for the pump so as to disabuse any notion that there was a hoax in this matter. This newspaper reported the outcome of its inquiries into the pump and the engine sourced from a company other than the supplier.
The company that supplied the pump to the contractor has been reluctant to speak to this newspaper. Perhaps, Dr. Randy may wish to think about the reason they are missing a marketing opportunity to show that they can provide pumps at very reasonable prices, and even more so why they are not willing to quote a price for a product which from all accounts they have sold.
It is important that the Auditor General determines the price actually paid for the pump. This is separate, of course, from his value-for-money audit. Now since the company that reportedly sold the pump is reluctant to speak to Kaieteur News, it may be similarly inclined when it comes to an investigation.
This is where the help of the American government comes in. Dr. Randy will recall that the same company had before come under the microscope of the US government over the sale of pumps to other countries. The US government therefore may be quite willing and amenable to assisting the Office of the Auditor General to probe what was the actual price paid for this pump.
Just last night, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in its program ‘Focus on the GRA’- which incidentally is being shown on a number of television channels – called on members of the public to stamp out corruption by calling the GRA.
Well the GRA does not need to wait on any call. It can begin by investigating some of the stories that are carried in this newspaper to determine whether there is any fraud being committed against the very funds which it so diligently collects for the government.
The GRA can be very helpful also to the Auditor General. It can provide him with the price of the pump when it was imported into the country. Surely, those records are available and can be demanded.
If the government is serious about demonstrating that it was not over-billed for this pump, it would have by now carried out its own investigation. Instead the government is preoccupied with attacking Kaieteur News and its publisher for simply publishing a matter of public concern.

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