Answers not excuses are needed

Aug 09, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The reasons proffered for the failure of the Ministry of Health to provide answers to questions posed in the National Assembly is unpardonable. The excuse that the staff who can provide the answers are busy with Budget preparations is neither reasonable nor acceptable.
It is an insult to the intelligence of Guyanese for such an explanation to be offered. It is disrespectful to the National Assembly for such an excuse to be made.
The National Assembly is not supreme in Guyana but it should be treated with greater regard by all and sundry. Ministers of the government are accountable to parliament.
What this means in practice is that a Minister is compelled to provide answers for the conduct of the Ministry for which the Minister holds responsibility. Ministers therefore should make a special effort so that they are not likely to be perceived as treating parliament like a stepchild.
The controversy over the multimillion-dollar drug purchase is already in the public domain. Detailed explanations of the multimillion-dollar pharmaceutical contract were provided to the media by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health who also happens to be the accounting officer of the Ministry. Those answers obviously have not ended the controversy over the procurement.
The questions being asked within the National Assembly require a little more details and should pose such an onerous burden on the Ministry since the explanations were provided to the media when the issue first surfaced.
Unfortunately, the explanations previously given have left many unanswered questions. The Ministry now has a wonderful opportunity to clear the air and convince all and sundry that the tender and the award were transparent and fair.
It is not an issue which is going to go away by ignoring it or making specious excuses. The same goes for the GECOM procurement controversy which was investigated by the Office of the Auditor General. It is still not clear whether the Commission has replied to the Auditor General as it is required to do by law.
The Ministry of Health may well find that the Auditor General is asked to launch a special investigation. If that happens, the findings of that report are going to find their way into the National Assembly. Either way, therefore, the Ministry has to provide an answer to the questions raised in the National Assembly. It can either volunteer to do so or it may be forced to do so in response to the findings of a special audit conducted by the Office of the Auditor General.
There is another major issue which is of concern. It involves the appearance or rather lack of appearance, so far, of the Minister of Citizenship before a parliamentary oversight committee. There have been many postponements of the Minister’s appearance. The committee wishes to question him about large number of unaccounted Cuban and Haitian nationals.
There is a suspicion that these nationals may have left Guyana for other countries undetected. This raises the possibility of people smuggling. It can also suggest that the immigration controls in the country are weak. A detailed investigation is needed, one that goes beyond a committee questioning a Minister.
The government is fond of launching Commissions of Inquiry. In these two instances, there certainly is the need for inquiries into the procurement of the medicines by the Ministry of Health and the face of those Cubans and Haitians who are recorded as entering Guyana but whose whereabouts are now unknown.
It is not likely, however, that the government will agree to such inquiries. It prefers making silly excuses. But at least the Procurement Commission should be asked to investigate this particular procurement within the Ministry of Health to determine whether the procurements laws were breached.
And in respect to the immigration matter, this is surely likely to find its way into the United States Annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Guyana received a rather favorable report for 2018. But it was listed as both a source and destination country for trafficking in persons. Interestingly, Cubans were not listed as amongst those being trafficked through Guyana. Where then are the unaccounted Cubans and Haitians?
This, like the controversy over the procurement of pharmaceuticals, is not likely to go away that easy.

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