Drug bond contract…Jagdeo accuses Govt. of cover-up

Aug 25, 2016 News

Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo is accusing members of the appointed Cabinet sub-committee – Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Raphael Trotman and Minister of State Joseph Harmon – of participating in a cover up of recent actions by their colleague, Minister of Public Health George Norton.
Jagdeo was at the time addressing media operatives at a press conference held at his party’s Robb Street Headquarters.
He recounted that Trotman had said that the bond was indeed PAHO/WHO-compliant. Jagdeo said he is unaware as to how the Minister could have arrived at that conclusion based on his assessment. “He (Trotman) visited a building that was under construction, and he said that it is not true that the building is not prepared to accept drugs.”
According to the Opposition Leader, having an air conditioning unit, a changeover switch for electricity outages and physical and electronic security, does not qualify the facility to store medical supplies for the nation.
Jagdeo went further to say that the Prime Minister’s excuse was an attempt to outdo Trotman’s excuse. “He (Nagamootoo) says that there could have been a fire, and it’s the congestion that caused this, that we had to get a second place.”
The opposition leader said that Harmon, Trotman and Nagamootoo who make up the sub-committee should be called the “cover-up committee”. He asserted that the issue does not stop at Norton, but in fact goes much deeper.
According to Jagdeo, his party did not have faith in an objective review being done by the Cabinet sub-committee which had been set up to examine the contract. However, he noted that his camp was still hopeful for some truth to come out of it.
Jagdeo said that if a thorough investigation is done, it would be surprising how deep the connections run in the government regarding the bond.
“That contract is not about Norton himself, Norton was directed to initiate that. Norton was directed by members of that Cabinet to negotiate this deal with this individual. They all knew about it when it went to the Parliament.”
According to the politician, Nagamootoo had said to him that the issue was fully debated by the Cabinet. “If it is that Cabinet debated that issue, why must Norton apologise? It means we have a dunce and incompetent cabinet that couldn’t ask basic questions?”
He said that now since the contract has been exposed for what it is, Norton’s colleagues have thrown him under the bus. Jagdeo said that for years, Norton was advocating for competitive bidding but has now taken the position to sole source a contract, giving as an excuse his ignorance of public tendering and pre-qualification.

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