School book contracts… Govt. awaiting audit on National Printers before pronouncing

Jun 01, 2019 News

The Government is not immediately pronouncing on the issue of a number of government contracts for schoolbooks awarded to state-owned Guyana National Printers Limited (GNPL).
Rather, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, said yesterday, the government will wait on the report of state auditors, who are conducting a probe currently before commenting.
Harmon was responding to questions about Government’s thoughts of subsidized state companies competing for business with private ones.
The official noted that with regards to the issue with exercise books, GNPL has issued an expansive statement after a number of published reports about the award of contracts and claims by local printers that they were not getting any work.
Harmon said that in the absence of any contrary information to go with that, and pending the audit report, Government will stand by what GNPL said.
“Whether it is a good thing or not, I understand the Audit Office will do an investigation and let us see what they come back with.”
The issue is much more than an embarrassing one.
Since 2017, Government pumped almost $100M into GNPL, once a powerhouse to help turn its fortunes around. The company had been printing exercise and textbooks and has the contract for registration forms for the Guyana Elections Commission. However, GNPL has also been handed the contract, without it being tendered, for exercise books.
Local printers, including Kimoke Printery, F&H Printing Establishment and Kaieteur Books, have complained that GNPL is unfairly competing, and in any case does not have the capacity to print the exercise and school books.
The local printers said that GNPL went to Trinidad and ordered books, sidelining them, thereby most likely breaching procurement rules.
The money involved in the printing of books for the Ministry of Education is to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. In fact, this year alone, almost $600M has been allocated for the printing of books.
There has been emerging evidence that not only is GNPL printing or sub-contracting to others, but also the cost paid was way above what local printers could have done it for.
Local printers have rejected GNPL’s assertion that they do not have capacity to handle book orders.
The printing of school books over the years has been flagged time and again by state auditors who found poor storage and management, and other issues pointing to corruption.

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