Latest update September 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 24, 2013 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
We are convinced that Bill No. 17 of 2013 as proposed by the PPP regime seeks to devour a Constitutional Commission in the form of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and impose a partisan group namely the Cabinet to manage and control the public procurement process. But the PPP did not win 100 percent of the votes at the 2011 elections, so why is the cabal so obsessed with controlling 100 percent of how the people’s moneys are spent?
But to expose the inexplicable position of the Minister of Finance on the make-up of the PPC, the expectation is that the PPP will recommend two members, the opposition will recommend two and one member will come from civil society. So guess what, if the Private Sector Commission as a so-called member of civil society recommends the final of the five members of this commission, guess who will command the majority of the PPC?
So the Minister is only playing to the gallery as he acts out the “animal farmism” in him in that august house.
What the Minister of Finance is not telling the people is that the PPP is absolutely against good and transparent governance and wants to dominate the procurement process.
Prior to 2003, we acknowledged that cabinet approved contracts above a certain limit, but that system was flawed and that was why the Cheddi Jagan administration had to bear the shame of the milk scam and the stone scam, because his own Ministers were using their position in his Cabinet to pull wool over his eyes. Those scams caused one Minister to invest heavily in a holiday resort on the Essequibo River and that was why Cheddi Jagan decided to take the Procurement Process away from Cabinet and put it in the hands of an independent Commission that represent the socio-political make up of the nation.
It was his vision to have the PNC involved in the process so that the crooked and corrupt ones in his Cabinet could be opposed, exposed and deposed.
The rest is history. Following Dr. Jagan’s death, the corruption demons in the PPP Cabinet metamorphosed from little pussy cats to egregious, hungry and greedy dragons that must have a cut out of every deal that was up for tender, as is the case today.
The reality is the present cabinet can best be deemed as the secret deals Cabinet and they want Parliament to further empower them with the people’s money. To do what?
That is why we remain deeply concerned as to why the majority opposition has allowed Ms Gail Teixeira and the PPP to insert a clause in the debate that has led to the delay of the Procurement Commission for as much as six months. It is most unfortunate that the people of Guyana are once again being let down by the majority opposition. When will the opposition stand up to the PPP and defend the interest of the people and the country. After all, they must let the PPP regime know that neither the people nor Guyana is up for sale.
Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh
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