More delays in reconstituting of procurement commission

Jun 02, 2022 News

…Figueira accuses govt of dodging scrutiny of multi-billion dollar contracts
Kaieteur News- The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) adds another layer of transparency and accountability to Government’s expenditure of taxpayer’s monies given its oversight role in procurement and the award of government contracts.
The PPC monitors public procurement to ensure the principles of fairness, equity, value for money, and competition are upheld and to ensure that the procedures of public procurement are executed in accordance with the laws of Guyana. But from all indications, it appears as though the Government has no interest in having that commission in place. This is the deduction of A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Member of Parliament (MP) and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Jermaine Figueira.

APNU+AFC MP and PAC Chairman, Jermaine Figueira.

Figueira who was a part of the selection of the names to sit on PPC told Kaieteur News that there is no reason why the commission has not been constituted except for the government’s non-interest in having the multimillion dollar contracts scrutinised.
He noted: “There are literally multimillion and billion dollars contracts being handed out without any oversight. The Public Procurement Commission is mandated to investigate the complaints of aggrieved contractors and bidders and stop any unfair or biased practice in the procurement process of public projects…The Public Procurement Commission adds a layer of transparency and accountability to government spending. That is not something I believe that they want because as you can see while the President has appointed members for the Integrity Commission and the Police Service Commission, there is no word on this very vital commission.”
Figueira noted that the work to have the commission in place has been done. I was part of the selection the National Assembly has given its no objection, it’s now up to the President to do the constitutionally right thing and have those persons take the oath of office.
He explained too while three of the persons selected to sit on the PPC are government aligned-two were selected by the Opposition. He said “The persons chosen to sit on the commission were chosen because the selection panel believed that they were apolitical and professional enough to carry out the functions of an independent commission.”
The APNU+AFC lamented the fact that the five member PPC was poised to be sworn in since April of this year. The National Assembly approved the bipartisan Public Accounts Committee as “”suitable candidates” to sit on the PPC are Attorney-at-Law Pauline Chase, Economist Joel Bhagwandin, Rajnarain Singh, Berkeley Wickham and Diana Rajcumar. The nominees secured at least two-thirds support from members of the National Assembly in keeping with Guyana’s Constitution. Mr. Wickham and Ms Rajcumar have been nominated by the opposition APNU+AFC.
The PPC has not been in place since October 2019.
During the sitting of the Assembly where the names were approved, Figueira thanked the former PPC- Carol Corbin, Dr. Nankishore Gopaul, Sukrishnalall Pasha, Ivor English and Emily Dodson- and hoped that they would be “given their rightly deserved dues” for their work in setting up the PPC.
Back then, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira noted that the People’s Progressive Party Civic-led administration had always proposed that three of the five PPC members represent government and two from the opposition but until now it had been supported. “I believe that in the process that we went through, I think we have found some very good Guyanese to be able to take on this responsibility and continue the work of the former PPC,” she said.
She highlighted that the PPC largely represented a “younger generation” after having undergone police background checks. Sixty members of the National Assembly from both sides of the political divide voted in favour of the names that were selected.

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