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Gov’t dismantles public procurement system replaces it with Jagdeo
– says Opposition Leader
Kaieteur News – Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon has accused the People Progressive Party (PPP) of dismantling the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and replacing it with a system that in turn benefits Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.
Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon
Harmon, during a news conference on Wednesday explained, “The PPP Administration decided that they would take a grip on the Public Procurement Process, to ensure that only those persons and companies that support them get any form of contracts from the Government.”
He added, “What they have done, they have dismantled the Public Procurement Commission; they have dismantled the National Procurement and Tender Board Administration and replaced them with a system which leads directly to Bharrat Jagdeo.”
The former Minister of State says that the absence of the PPC is in violation of the Constitution, which states, under the Public Procurement Commission Tribunal Act, that, “There shall be a Public Procurement Commission. The purpose of which is to monitor public procurements, the procedures there for in order to ensure that the procurement of goods, 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 Commission shall be independent, impartial and discharge its functions fairly”.
Harmon said that due to the Commission not being in place, the Government has been awarding contracts to their friends and family, who they hope will in return keep them in power. “So there is no Public Procurement Commission and so what is happening, these miscreants are awarding these contracts to their friends at will, without any oversight. Companies with no known profiles are being awarded contracts…the PPP are using their cronies to control different sectors, as they pilfer State resources and they are putting them in critical positions so they can help them stay in power. But I am putting all of these people on notice that it will not work. Not under my watch,” he warned.
The Opposition Leader made reference to the recent award of a $346 million contract, for the construction of a school, to St8ment Construction, a newly registered company with no record of building any project, but “are known affiliates of the PPP”.
He also pointed to another contract where a close friend of the ruling administration, and a fierce opponent of the Opposition, was granted a telecommunications licence.
In this regard, Harmon promised to continue to apply the pressure for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission and expose the “corrupt nature of the PPP regime”.
He said that, “we can expect Guyana to regress on the International Transparency Index, due to the awards of projects taking place.”
The former minister was keen to note that in the absence of a PPC, all contracts being awarded will be subject to a review once the Public Procurement Commission is reestablished. “(They) must be subject to review, and so all of the kickbacks and all of these overpriced projects that are going on, people will have to account for them,” he noted. “And I am serving notice to all of the companies that are now the beneficiaries of this largesse from the PPP that you will have to account for these monies,” he signaled.
Harmon added that the Opposition will seek to ensure that this is carried out by the PPC when it is reconstituted. “The patrimony of Guyana cannot be so willy-nilly dealt with in a manner which does not pass the first bar of transparency. Too much of this is taking place. Large contracts, huge billion-dollar contracts are now being awarded based on friends, based on family, based on religious connections and not based on the requirements of the Public Procurement Act,” he argued.
Only a few days ago, a state agency, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was given $44 million to retrofit a hospital in Paramakatoi but the project did not go through the tendering process, even though projects over $15 million are required by law to undergo this process. Social activist, Audreyanna Thomas had questioned what she dubbed as an ‘unfair advantage’, which the GDF has over other companies in the bidding process, when the GDF responded to clarify that the project did not go to tender.
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