PAC resumes hunt for nominees for Procurement Commission

Dec 01, 2015 News

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Eleventh Parliament is on the hunt for nominees for the Public Procurement Commission.
In an advertisement in the print media, it was noted that the PAC is in the process of nominating persons

PAC Chairman,
Irfaan Ali

to be members of the Commission.
The Parliament Office reminded that Article 212X of the Constitution of Guyana states that “the Public Procurement Commission shall consist of five members who shall have expertise and experience in procurement, legal, finance and administrative matters and the President shall appoint the members of the Commission after such members have been nominated by the PAC and approved by not less than two-thirds of the elected members of the National Assembly.”
It is also the desire of the PAC to have the composition of the Commission, reflect as much as possible, the social gender and political make up of the country.
It emphasized that the persons nominated should be competent to carry out the required duties and the need to be of good repute would be applied.
In keeping with its decision to seek names from a wide cross section of the society, it is inviting stakeholders, political parties, organizations and individuals to submit the names of those persons they believe are eligible for the position by no later than December 23.
PAC Chairman Irfaan Ali, noted that the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission is priority for the Committee and he looks forward to the cooperation of the public in this regard.
He added, “This is a main concern for us and we hope to get in all the submissions as early as possible so that by early next year we can start our work and have the commission set up before mid year.
“It is important for the nation to have the Commission in place and we look forward to playing our role in ensuring that this is done.”
For years, Guyana’s public procurement system has been plagued by accusations of corruption and financial irregularities but it is believed that the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission would bring an end to these challenges.
In the Tenth Parliament, the PAC which was headed by Carl Greenidge, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs. He experienced much difficulty during his time as there were quite a few delays in securing the nominees of the People’s Progressive Party for the Commission.
Several names were already submitted from the public for the Commission. A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) had also made their submissions.
The AFC had nominated former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran and Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram while APNU had submitted in excess of 20 nominees.
But the former administration after several weeks did not submit the names of its nominees. It left many to draw the conclusion that the PPP was deliberately stalling the work of the PAC in that regard.
It created a situation which forced the former PAC Chairman to start making moves to select nominees for the Public Procurement Commission whether the former government wanted to be a part of the process or not.
The Public Procurement Commission, a constitutional body born from the Public Procurement legislation, was expected to be established in 2012.
In May of that year, former Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett had said that the Commission would have been established by the end of June 2012.
That did not materialize even though it is one of the provisions of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union.
However, former President Donald Ramotar had given insight as to why his Government did not prioritized the establishment of the Commission.
According to Ramotar, the issue of the Public Procurement Commission came about in the Eighth Parliament. He had explained that the Procurement Act was sent to the National Assembly where it was modified on the floor “ill advised”.
Negotiations on the modifications broke down and the Bill was passed. He had said that Government needs to maintain its no-objection in the award of contracts.
According to Greenidge, the last presentation from the People’s Progressive Party before Parliament was prorogued showed that they still wanted to retain the no-objection clause.
But once the Commission comes into being, Cabinet’s role in offering its no-objection would not be needed.
In November 2013, the former Government tabled amendments to the substantive Procurement Act in the National Assembly to ensure it could continue to give its no-objections even with the Commission in place.
Greenidge had emphasized that, that legislation was not accepted by the House. As such, the legislation was withdrawn and the then PPP Government had said it would discuss the matter further with then Opposition. (Kiana Wilburg)