People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones

Dear Editor,
The well-known adage ‘People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’ advises that people who have certain faults should refrain from criticizing others with similar flaws. This maxim cautions against casting blame or fault-finding, especially in situations where one’s own vulnerabilities or imperfections may be exposed.
This adage applies fittingly to members of the Alliance for Change (AFC), who have been irritatingly vocal about the recently published report by the Public Procurement Commission (PPC). The irony regarding the noise from the AFC’s members is that some of the most shameful procurement breaches occurred under their watch; and, in some instances, were inspired by them.
For instance, the unsolicited tender Mr. David Patterson took to the cabinet for approval is a disgraceful example. This AFC parliamentarian, who now purports to understand the Procurement Act and Regulations, was miraculously unaware that it was unlawful to entertain unsolicited tenders, and that the cabinet cannot approve contract awards, but merely grant its ‘no objection.’
Today this former minister is currently before the court for this breach. He was also removed as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) because this matter is engaging the court’s attention, and may impugn the image of this parliamentary committee.
Patterson was also the sitting Minister of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure when three motion scales were procured at $72 million. To date, these items are yet to be delivered. Since, in this instance, the procurement process ends with the delivery of items, this tragedy is equally shameful, since the Guyanese taxpayers never even saw items that were acquired with their tax dollars. In local parlance, this is a classic example of ‘getting robbed blind.’
Similarly, under the diligent oversight of the Ministry of Public Security and Guyana Police Force by Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, millions of items were procured but never delivered, even after full payments were made, in breach of the Procurement Act. For instance, the 2019 Auditor General Report revealed items valued at more than $202 million were fully paid for but not delivered to the Ministry of Public Security (see article titled “203 million in furniture, equipment missing from Public Security Ministry – AG report, Kaieteur News, December 28, 2020).
Who could forget the former Minister of Public Telecommunication, Mrs Catherine Hughes, for conveniently allowing the ministry she presided over to award a contract to her company, Videomega Production Limited? (see the article titled ‘Company owned by Cathy Hughes received $6M in contracts from Ministry of Telecommunication, Kaieteur News February 21, 2021). Even if Mrs Hughes was ignorant that the Ministry of Public Telecommunication awarded the contract to her company, she must have known of this when the invoice went to her office for payment approval.
These are not the only procurement breaches that occurred under these former ministers and current parliamentarians of the AFC. For a complete compendium of procurement breaches by these procurement experts and paragons of virtue, I encourage our objective Guyanese brothers and sisters to consult the Auditor General’s Reports between 2015 and 2020. According to these reports, between 2016 and 2020, the APNU-AFC Government committed 222 procurement breaches.
Editor, even the PPC report the AFC parliamentarians are using to attack the Government stated that the contract awarded to Tepui was guided by precedence established during the APNU-AFC tenure (see paragraph 49, page 9). Specifically, the leniency exercised by the Evaluation Committee (EC) in awarding the contract to Tepui is not new, but was exercised by various Evaluation Committees under the APNU-AFC Government.
To date, the AFC and its members are yet to apologize to the citizens for these breaches. Based on their public utterances, I am convinced the AFC members who are now complaining about procurement breaches must be aware that the violations they presided over are wrong. Thus, ignorance cannot be attributed to their failure to apologize to the nation. Instead, it must be that they do not consider these infringements wrong or shameful.
However, if the AFC wants to redeem itself, it can start by accepting its wrongs and publicly apologising for them. Those who benefitted from bangles and bedsheets may also consider returning these gifts. Until then, they should refrain from commenting on procurement breaches, and leave that for persons with cleaner hands.

Regards,
Kevin Persaud