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WILL UNCLE DONALD MAKE THE DIFFERENCE?

Jul 02, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is not the answer to the concerns over corruption. The PPC is not concerned with the award of contracts; it has no control over who evaluates bids; it has little control over the composition of the National Procurement and Tender Administration, and its role is in the main restricted to dealing with systems.
These systems will eventually be under the control of the Executive and they can be manipulated whether or not there is a PPC.
What is needed is not another layer of toothless bureaucracy. What is needed is the right leadership at the political level to restore confidence in the procurement process.
That process has been hijacked by the ruling oligarchic class and they have used it to their advantage. The oligarchy has made a mockery of the system of competitive bidding. They have exposed its tender underbelly and shown how susceptible it is to manipulation. This is why what is needed is not another body which can be subject to the pressures and wooing of the oligarchic class.
What is needed is political leadership that refuses to be a sycophant of this oligarchic class and which is committed to ensuring fairness in public procurement.
Do not however expect revolutionary changes in the way the procurement process is administered. This is not the way in which politics operates in Guyana. Instead of sweeping changes at one go, the public should be on the lookout for progressive and periodic interventions aimed at improving the system as it is known.
Some of this is already taking place. For example, one of the big concerns about public procurement in the health sector was that the system of prequalification was flawed and ended up favouring one major company which enjoyed at one time up to 80 per cent of the total purchases in the sector.
Quietly, but assuredly under Uncle Donald, we are witnessing changes to that system. No longer is just one firm being prequalified for major contracts in the health sector. There is now more than one firm that is tendering for contracts in the health sector. And this has been a positive development but it is not the full nine yards because the system can still be manipulated.
What are the safeguards in place, for example, to ensure that after a contract is awarded for the supply of certain medicines that these medicines are in fact delivered. A few years ago the Office of the Auditor General raised the concern that there was no record in one instance of supplies being delivered.
What can very well happen therefore is for a firm to bid low knowing very well that it cannot supply at that price and knowing well that when it wins that bid it will not supply the drugs.
This is just one of the ways in which the system can be manipulated outside of the process of tendering, evaluating the bids and awarding the contract.
It is a loophole that should be plugged and it has to be plugged at a level outside of the scope of any PPC. It has to be plugged at the level of administration.
The Opposition should therefore be concerned with ensuring that there is photographic and independent verification that the goods and services procured have been supplied and delivered as per contract.
This is why political leadership is far more important that a PPC. This is why changes at the level of system do not guarantee that the system will not be hijacked or manipulated.
One of the things that can stymie the strong leadership that is needed at the political level is the control that the oligarchic class has over the politicians by virtue of bankrolling political campaigns. So long as major forces in the oligarchy continue to finance the political campaign of political parties, the system remains susceptible to manipulation.
This is why leadership with integrity and decency is needed. And there is no one with the integrity and decency in the government other than Uncle Donald.
He may not be moving with the swiftness that many expect, but changes are being made, and hopefully as he consolidates himself in power, he will be able to plug all the loopholes which exist in the public procurement commission.
The entire country is looking towards Uncle Donald to make a difference. Will he?

 

 

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