Chairman accuses REO of bypassing regional tender board

Jan 12, 2020 News

The Regional Chairman of Region six, David Armogan, has accused regional officials of bypassing the Tender Board when it comes to the procurement of drugs and other materials for the region.

Reg. 6 Chairman, David Armagon

This accusation comes after the leaked 2018 Auditor General’s report found that the region was acquiring drugs and other medical supplies at exorbitant prices.
From the report, it appeared that the region had not checked with the Materials Management Unit (MMU), the stipulated entity to handle purchases of drugs for distribution to health centres and state-run hospitals, before making their purchases.
The report outlined that “a comparison of the prices paid for drugs and medical supplies procured by the Regional Administration from local suppliers with the prices paid by MMU as indicated on the price listing submitted, revealed that for 52 items, the Regional Administration paid significantly higher prices when compared with MMU’s prices.”
In fact, the region paid in two instances, as much as 1669% and 1465% more than the MMU’s price for those items.
The excuse given by the region was simply that it paid more because they did not buy in large quantities.
But the Regional Chairman, David Armogan when asked to give an explanation, pointed fingers to other regional officials and accused them of bypassing the region’s tender board when making such purchases.
According to him, those very officials are “selecting their own people to buy the drugs.”
“Those purchases are supposed to go to tender but they are not doing that; they are selecting people and buying from them and that can lead to high levels of corruption…
“If you look at some of the prices they are paying for some basic tablets and so, it’s almost 300% of what the tablets cost.”
According to Armogan, the items can be purchased from local suppliers at lower prices that can save the region millions of dollars.
“They don’t want to deal with the local suppliers because all of those things can be bought very cheap from some of them right in Guyana…they want to deal with their own selective people.”
Armogan explained that because the items are being purchased in such small quantities, they are not required to be brought to the tender board.
“If you buy $500,000 worth every week or everyday in materials, you don’t have to go to tender board.”
From the audit report, it was seen that where the MMU paid $13 for Risperidone, a drug used to treat mood disorders, the region paid a whopping $230; 1,600 percent more.
The region bought 8,400 in this drug costing taxpayers, a shocking $1.8M.
The region, in 2018, also bought 7.5 Surgical Gloves. Where the MMU paid $929 for a box of 25 pairs, the region paid an astronomical $5,200.
Had the region taken from the MMU, the savings would have been $342,000.

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