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Civil society group says PAC must speed up reconstitution of Public Procurement body
Kaieteur News– Civil Society group, Article 13, is urging a speedy reconstitution of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
In a public statement, the body said, “Article 13 welcomes the announcement by Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the Committee had taken steps towards the constituting of the Procurement Commission”.
It however urged that the necessary steps be taken to have the body functional, since its hiatus has now been extended to 14 months. “We remind our lawmakers however, that the architecture for public procurement includes the Procurement Commission Tribunal, the Chair of which is appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission. The life of that too has expired, even as contracts are awarded at all levels of Government. Unfortunately and regrettably, the political parties – large and small – treat such constitutional non-compliance as a fact of political life in Guyana,” the group stated.
Article 13 member, Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram
Article 13 added that it is anxiously awaiting the day that Parliamentary Committees, such as the PAC, can feel empowered, uninhibited and courageous enough to collectively write to the President pressing him to act on those matters requiring his attention.
“The PAC is a constitutionally mandated Commission whose powers, functions and purpose is to “monitor public procurement and the procedure therefore 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 Figueira, a sub-committee of the PAC has shortlisted the names of eight persons which would be taken to the full PAC and later to the National Assembly for it to make the final appointment,” the group reminded.
The civil society group comprises of prominent and outspoken Guyanese such as Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram and telecommunications specialist, Yog Mahadeo; Economist, Ramon Gaskin and others
Only recently, Kaieteur News spoke with the Chairman of the PAC, Jermaine Figueira who underscored the importance of the committee.
In fact he said that the recent awarding of a contract to a fly-by-night company to the tune of $346 million, to build a new Primary School at Bamia, in Region 10 highlights the dire need for the PPC. Figueira explained, “That is why we have been saying that the issue of the Public Procurement Commission needs to be prioritized or to be operationalized, where the Commission is put in place. Because those contractors who lost the bid to a company with no experience could have lodged their complaints to the PPC, but there is no commission in place and there is no recourse for those aggrieved contractors.”
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