The President is confusing himself

Jul 21, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – This column does not usually reply to criticisms made of its contents. There are two main exceptions: when there is a dispute over facts or where misrepresentation is claimed.

The President of Guyana has indicated that the proposal to invite the Saudis to establish a Desk at the Guyana’s Ministry of Finance was not a diplomatic blunder but instead was a strategic decision. It was this column which – as far as is known – was the only source which was critical of the proposal.

In justifying his invitation to the Saudis to establish a Desk, the President pointed to desks which he claims have been established at the said Ministry of Finance. He said that desks were established for bilateral programmes.

The Head of State pointed to a Japanese Grant Aid Desk, a CIDA Desk and what he says was a USAID Desk. He could have pointed also to the CDB Desk which he headed, or to the EU Desk in the Ministry.

None of these so-called “Desks” are country Desks. These were all Project Execution and Implementation Units. In the case of the USAID Desk, it was part of a capacity-building consultancy.

These implementation units were deformities. They were established because of the need to ensure that the foreign projects were properly implemented and funds disbursed and accounted for. Guyana opted for these mechanisms because it lacked the capacity to effectively manage the funds available under the project cycle units at the various ministries.

In 1995, for example, the Government of Guyana signed an agreement with the International Development Association (IDA) for a loan for a Financial Sector and Business Environment Development project. The terms of that project required that the government establish a Project Implementation Unit (PIU) at the Ministry of Finance to help manage that project. The government was required to ensure adequate and suitably qualified staff.

PIUs have also been established in other Ministries. The Ministry of Education had a PIU for the Guyana Education Sector Programme project. The Ministry of Health had PIUs for projects. The Ministry of Legal Affairs has had PIUs.

PIUs have their uses, both good and bad. They do allow the government to attract highly qualified staff that could otherwise not have been attracted by the public service salary scales. And they do allow for those persons to be paid from the project. But the downside is that some PIUs have been used as conduits for cronyism: to employ favoured persons at high-paying salaries.

The project implementation units are not country desks. They are the responsibility of the sovereign state and managed and staffed by locals, with, at times, foreign consultants.

The desks at the Ministry of Finance, which the President referred to are project implementation desks. They are unlike the desks at the Department of State, which are set aside for countries which have relations with the USA.

Guyana does not have a desk for every bilateral programme. If that were the case, the Ministry of Finance would have to possibly seek new quarters, possibly at Houston where we are told the Ministry of Housing and Water, and the Ministry of Education are likely to be relocated.

When Guyana’s President proposed a Saudi Desk at the Ministry of Finance he was proposing a desk even before any project had been decided upon. And even if there were projects agreed upon, it does not follow that there is need for a project implementation unit (PIU).

By now, the Government of Guyana should have done away with these PIUs. These units add to the cost of the projects and divert scarce resources to administrative costs.

The World Bank, as far back at 2005, had suggested the need for greater capacity building. In this regard, it identified a reduction in the number of parallel PIUs as one of actions to be taken. The Bank went as far as urging that parallel PIUs be phased out as a means of building local capacity.

The President, however, wants to establish a desk for the Saudi’s in the Ministry of Finance. But there is no agreement for any project as yet.  So what is purpose of the Desk?

The President says that these desks help to do away with bureaucracy. What he probably means is that they help to do away with red tape. Bureaucracy is needed. It is the bureaucracy which has to implement but the bureaucracy needs to be efficient and lean.

It does not require the bias associated with Islamophobia for persons to realise that the invitation to set up a Saudi desk at the Ministry of Finance was premature and ill-conceived. The President was placing the cart before the horse, and in a situation in which there may not even have been a cart.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

 

 

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