Govt. alone cannot establish Public Procurement Commission—Dr.Singh

Mar 18, 2014 News

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, recently sought to debunk the myth that Government is solely responsible for establishing the Public Procurement Commission.
Dr. Singh was speaking at the recent consultation over the non-passage of the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill at the International Conference Centre and was responding to queries from a member of the public in relation to its establishment.

Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh

“Let it be clear that the appointment of the Public Procurement Commission does not reside in the hands of Government,” said Dr. Singh.
According to the Finance Minister, it is the Public Accounts Committee that is responsible for the nomination of the members of the committee after which a two-thirds majority vote is required in Parliament.
Dr. Singh said that the Public Accounts Committee is chaired by A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Carl Greenidge.
“This business of creating the impression that Government alone can do it is a misrepresentation.”
The political opposition, specifically the Alliance for Change (AFC), had upped the ante in the call for the establishment of the constitutionally mandated commission, when it took a stance that its support for the Anti Money Laundering Bill would be tied to the establishment of the committee.
This past weekend the AFC, through its leader Khemraj Ramjattan, reiterated that call.
In a letter, responding to Dr. Yesu Persaud, the AFC Leader said that the government has frustrated the establishment and operationalisation of a constitutionally mandated Procurement Commission for twelve years.
“And as you must be aware, corruption has run riot in matters procurement because of its non-operationalisation during that time,” he added.
The Finance Minister when he addressed the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission also used the opportunity to make a pitch for the preservation of the role of Cabinet to offer an objection or no objection to the awarding of contracts.
Dr. Singh was adamant that the preservation of this role does not in any way restrict or reduce the constitutionally enshrined powers of the Public Procurement Commission.
He argued that should this role of Cabinet be removed from the law then the executive cannot be held responsible for the violation of the execution of any of the contracts.
Government recently tabled an amendment to the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act seeking to preserve this role but that has been deferred given that the opposition had indicated that it would not support it.
According to the law as it currently stands, the role of Cabinet will be phased out upon the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission.
Government has argued that this provision was not the subject of a Cabinet decision but was rather done on the floor of the House when law was originally passed.