When will the PPC be independent?

Jul 19, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
The Procurement Act 2003 is meant ‘to provide for the regulation of the procurement of goods, services and the execution of works, to promote competition among suppliers and contractors and to promote fairness and transparency in the procurement process.’
A few of the objectives of this Act were outlined as follows ‘maximizing economy and efficiency in procurement; providing for the fair and equitable treatment of all suppliers and contractors; promoting the integrity of, and fairness and public confidence in, the procurement process; and achieving transparency in the procedures relating to procurement’.
Moreover, in order to achieve these objectives, our Constitution was amended in 2002 to include Article 212W which provides that, ’There shall be a Public Procurement Commission the purpose of which is to monitor public procurement and the procedure therefore in order to ensure that the procurement of goods and services and execution of works are conducted in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective manner, according to law and such policy guidelines as may be determined by the National Assembly’.
The Public Procurement Commission was only established in October 2016, to enhance transparency and public trust and confidence in the procurement process. The Procurement Commission was an object of bargaining and negotiation in Parliament and it must be recalled that AFC’s Ramjattan had agitated fiercely for the establishment of this Commission and had made its establishment a condition for supporting the Anti-money Laundering Bill of the previous Government which never materialized. Unfortunately, Mr Ramjattan’s hypocritical stance was later exposed as he remained silent while Cabinet continued to supersede the PPC.
Mr Ramjattan’s ‘dream’ was realized more than a year after the Coalition took office. At the swearing in of the five Commissioners of the PPC, Mr Ramjattan said that the awarding of contracts is an ‘occupational hazard for Ministers’.
But has anything changed since the establishment of the Procurement Commission? The answer is a resounding NO! In fact it has gotten worse and the awarding of contracts seems to be the only ‘occupation’ and definitely not a ‘hazard’ since many ministers and Government officials are involved more than before! Public procurement corruption is now more rampant than ever!
Unfortunately, it was not until April 2018 that the Commissioner could have gotten their ‘benefits package’ approved and obtain the required resources to begin their work which is not the approval of contracts but providing oversight to ensure that the procurement process is transparent, fair and competitive.
It is clear that Cabinet continued to award contracts under and above $15 million. Therefore, we have seen that even though the AFC had vigorously advocated for the establishment of the PPC, Cabinet continues to award contracts which certainly defeats the purpose of ‘promoting the integrity of, and fairness and public confidence in, the procurement process; and achieving transparency in the procedures relating to procurement’.
The public confidence is now at an all-time low since every day brings new revelations of massive corruption engulfing this nation with no input from the PPC.
We have seen that all levels, National and Regional that contracts are not intended to ‘maximize economy and efficiency’. On many instances contracts are not awarded to the ‘lowest evaluated bidder’, and the engineers’ estimates are grossly overstated.
We have seen that goods are single sourced and the excuse is that only one tender was received so the ‘fair and equitable treatment of all suppliers and contractors’ is a myth!
As long as political vultures continue to infest these Tender Boards and Evaluation Committee the corruption will never cease. It is time that the qualifications outlined in the Procurement Act should be stringently enforced.
These should be persons of ‘unquestioned integrity who have shown capacity in business, the professions, law, audit, finance and administration’. How many currently meet these qualifications?
In conclusion: Will cabinet ever allow the PPC to operate impartially, independently and free from political interference or will the award of contracts continue to be the ‘occupation’ of Ministers?
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
RDC Councilor Region 6

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