The Cabinet Council of Ministers is being accused of hand-picking contractors for specific contracts even as the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) remains inoperable.
Anil Nandlall
This damning allegation is being levelled by former Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who in a recent interview with Guyana Times, revealed that from all indications and in breach of the Procurement Act, the Cabinet continued to exercise a no-objection power in relation to the award of contracts.
According to Nandlall, the PPC has been appointed over two months ago and the Procurement Act provides very clearly that when the PPC is appointed, Cabinet loses its no-objection role in respect of the award of contracts.
He told Guyana Times that “a new trend is now developing…whenever the tender process does not deliver the desired result and produces a contractor who is not a favoured one of the Administration, the tender process is rescinded for some spurious reason, and the process is done all over again with a view to procure the desired contractor”.
The former Attorney General insists “this defeats the entire Procurement Act and indeed, is an affront to the public procurement process”.
He has since charged that the practice was also illegal and was a corrupt act which must end now.
“Significantly, it results in massive delays in getting public works done and services rendered to the people of the country,” Nandlall noted.
All of the members of the Commission were sworn in by Head of State, President David Granger in October last.
The members include Attorney-at-Law Emily Dodson; Carol Corbin, wife of former Opposition Leader Robert Corbin; Dr Nanda Gopaul, a trade unionist and former Labour Minister under the previous Administration; University of Guyana lecturer Sukrishnalall Pasha, and Ivor English, Critchlow College Principal and former head of Transport and Harbours Department.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has, in recent days, been voicing dissatisfaction over the lack of transparency surrounding numerous contracts awarded by the Administration and has signalled his intention to use his office to lodge formal complaints with the PPC.
During the swearing-in of the Commissioners in October last at the Ministry of the Presidency, President Granger noted that the Constitution of Guyana mandates the establishment of the PPC.
It was supposed to be established over 14 years ago, but was delayed time and again over differences between the Opposition and consecutive Administrations of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) on the members, and law changes.
Granger stressed that the Commission’s purpose was to ensure that the procurement of goods and services and execution of works were 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 Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana is sacrosanct. Its provisions must be observed and applied scrupulously. Its authority must never be diminished or ignored. The establishment of the Public Procurement Commission represents respect for the supreme law of the land,” the President urged.
The Head of State at the time also iterated the body’s commitment to the principles of accountability and transparency in the conduct of public business.
“The establishment of the Commission evinces the importance of ensuring equity and fairness in public procurement. I congratulate you – the members of the Public Procurement Commission – and urge you all to be faithful to the oath you have just sworn.”
