Who is undermining the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission?

Jun 24, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
In many ways 2012 was a watershed year for Guyana. Yet the post-Jagan PPP Government continues to not appoint the Ombudsman, the Public Service Appellant Tribunal and reconstitute the Integrity Commission and the Ethnic Relations Commission. Guyana continues to function with an Acting Chancellor, Acting Chief Justice and Acting Commissioner of Police.
In such a situation, it is clear why a close friend of the post-Jagan PPP continues to get a G$3.4billion non-competitive contract for the procurement of 80 per cent of the medical supplies in Guyana. To give the readers context to this concern, in 2002 the Office of the Auditor General stated that the Government purchased G$393 million in medical supplies and G$378 million (96%) of it was bought from a collection of over a dozen reputable medical suppliers. In less than ten years, many of these suppliers were shut out from the system and replace by one company – New GPC, owned by close associates of the post-Jagan PPP. The 2011 Auditor General Report revealed that the Government bought G$4,278 million in medical supplies and G$3,418 million (80%) was sole sourced from New GPC under a no-objection letter from the Cabinet of Guyana. Mind you, the procurement legislation provides no legal legitimacy for the Cabinet, only the Procurement Commission.
Can we understand why the post-Jagan PPP is so keenly interested in stifling the Public Procurement Commission? They are willing to break the law to feed their friends at the expense of the people. And Dr Luncheon wants to lecture the majority opposition about disrespectful and slothful? Who is disrespecting the people by undermining the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission?
If Mr. Granger votes for this anti-money laundering bill without securing the full establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, he shall be deemed a sell-out to the struggle. At least we are confident that the politician of principle in Guyana, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan will rally his troops to the cause of – no Procurement Commission; not vote for the anti-money laundering laws.
We also note a statement from the Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan demanding answers to queries on Government policies regarding procurement of medical supplies and welcome such advocacy. We encourage that the AFC ask a list of question in Parliament requesting direct answers on the issues, especially on that issue where some drugs were purchased for six times the cost of the same drug in the corner pharmacy and the high rate of expiry of drugs bought by the government.
For how long more will be spend so little on cleaning up the garbage on the road and so much on expired drugs?
Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

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Who is undermining the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission?

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