Sole sourcing is a big problem

May 30, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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It is not the proper role of senior public servants – whether they are employed on contract or through the Public Service Commission – to engage in questioning the consistency of persons who hold constitutional office. That is a role which should be left to the politicians.
If the Auditor General, a constitutional office-holder has made comments which the Ministry of Finance feels are inaccurate or do not paint a true picture of the government’s financial practices, the proper thing for the Ministry to do is to answer point by point, the allegations which were made.
If the allegations were general, then the Ministry should request that the specific infractions be made known, so that these can be addressed. But it is not for public servants to question the consistency of the Auditor General during the reign of the former regime.
Public servants must leave the political points to politicians. Ministers can make comments about the consistency of the Audit Office, not public servants.
Whether there is more sole sourcing now than under the PPPC is not a matter for public comment by public servants. That is a matter to be dealt with by the politicians in the government.
The PNCR has never been shy of criticising the Auditor General, past or present. PNCR governments have a long track record of being intolerant to criticisms by the Audit Office. At one time, a former Auditor General was upbraided and told in no uncertain manner that the Audit Office did not have the authority to audit privatisation proceeds.
Much of the criticisms levelled against the Audit Office are based on a misunderstanding of its functions. The Audit Office is not an anti-fraud agency. It is not expected therefore to detect all instances of fraud or financial irregularities.
As was explained previously, in one of these columns, the role of the Auditor General is to pronounce on the accuracy and thoroughness of the financial statements, which are presented to him by the various government ministries and agencies. The main role of the Audit Office is to examine the government’s financial statements to determine whether they fairly reflect the end-of-year financial position of the government, and are free from material misrepresentation.
In the course of the audits, the Audit Office may be caused to make a judgment on whether the right procedures were followed. But the Audit Office does not undertake detailed or minute audits to pick up fraud, even though some fraud may emerge during the course of its audits. If, therefore, there are financial irregularities, then the Audit Office cannot be blamed for their non-detection.
Sole sourcing has become a major problem of the APNU+AFC government. The government is accused of sole sourcing some $600M in pharmaceuticals from one company. It did this again with another company to the tune of more than $300M. Kaieteur News last year raised concerns over the sole souring of $367M in pharmaceuticals from a US firm. In 2017, the Private Sector Commission had cause to raise with the IMF, concerns over sole sourcing.
Transparency International (Guyana) Limited came out in strong condemnation of the decision by the government to sole source reagents from a company which it claimed has been blacklisted by the Inter-American Development Bank. Other bids to the company and another company were eventually put on hold. It was also revealed in the National Assembly that between January 2016 and February 2017, nine out of ten regions did no tendering for drugs and medical supplies.
Complaints have been filed with respect to sole sourcing by the APNU+AFC government. These are in relation to the new bridge to be built across the Demerara River and the government’s sole sourcing of exercise books to Guyana National Printers Limited.
The Auditor General pointed out that the Cabinet had given approval for contracts with the Guyana Energy Agency for the supply of energy efficiency and sustainable energy systems for government buildings. This also appears to be a case of sole sourcing, similar to the contract, which was handed to Guyana National Printers Limited.
A former petroleum advisor to the government has alleged that there was a proposal to sole source the sale of Guyana’s petroleum. Newspaper reports indicate that the repairs to pumps at Trafalgar, West Coast Berbice, were sole sourced, even though invitations for bids were earlier solicited.
The problem of sole sourcing will not go away by comparing what is being done now with what was done in the past. It will only disappear by sticking rigidly to the rules and being open to criticisms.

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