Dear Editor,
The media reported that they were seeking information from the IDB and the Ministry of Finance on the award of a contract for works at GPL. A number of persons have expressed frustration in the media on the delays of the awarding of this contract. It appears that the IDB is a party to this seemingly corrupt intention of delaying the award, perhaps with the intention of giving the contract as one of favour to an individual or a company.
The refusal to provide a major newspaper with comments or information on the contract is an indictment of a major financial institution like the IDB and one can only conclude there is underlying motives at the IDB local office.
It is also rather strange whether it is just coincidental or collusion or corruption that two contracts (both funded by IDB), one for management services and one for design and supervision, were awarded to Canadian companies.
Transparency advocates have on numerous occasions raised the issue of transparency at the IDB office. To date, the IDB has provided no clarification or information on the matters. The Auditor General, Mr Sharma, has flagged the Government for single sourcing over 0 million of forensic auditors in his 2015 audit report. Secondly, a team of staff has been hired post 2015 at the Office of Climate Change and are being paid through the Norway funds by the IDB. There has been no public procurement process for the hiring and paying of these staff. The IDB continues to refuse to provide or justify the procurement process used. More recently, the chair of the National Toshao Council (NTC) at the opening of Amerindian Heritage month, made startling revelations of the delays and denial of benefits to our Amerindian brothers and sisters of grant funding being managed by the IDB on a project called the Forest Carbon Facility Project (FCPF).
The public demands an urgent investigation into these corrupt practices by the IDB board, which seems to have been turning a blind eye to the practices at IDB, much to the disappointment of the Guyanese people.
Sincerely,
Erica Smith
