Former Head of Procurement at the Guyana Water Inc. Dhani Narine has refuted reports in the media that suggest that he was dismissed because of alleged preferential treatment to contractors in exchange for money.
In a statement, he also said that neither GWI nor the Board of directors of the company has given him a chance to be heard in respect of any allegations levelled against him.
On Monday, Narine and former Chief Executive Officer Karan Singh were dismissed by the company’s board. This came after both men were sent on special leave by the utility’s board, w hich was investigating allegations about mismanagement in the company. Narine was reportedly sent on leave on March 18, while Singh was sent on leave last week Monday after he returned from vacation.
In the statement, Narine said that “no specific allegations of unlawful demands were made against me by the Board when I was summoned to meet with them on Monday 30th March, 2009.” He said that during this meeting “several questions were asked of me in respect (of) other persons in GWI’s employ.” He added that as of yesterday, “neither GWI nor the Board of Directors have given me an opportunity to be heard in respect of any allegations, whether reported or otherwise.”
Narine, in the statement, said that in his post as the Head of Procurement at GWI, he was not required nor permitted by either his job description or otherwise to enter into or award any contracts for or on behalf of GWI except for minor purchases.
He said that “award of contracts for budgeted expenses less than $20 million is done by the GWI Board tender evaluation sub-committee, which is constituted by GWI officials, namely the Chairman, the corporate secretary and other members of the Board of Directors.”
Narine further stated that “when tenders are received and opened, the corporate secretary has the responsibility to disburse the tender documents received and opened to the selected coordinator and members of the evaluation sub-committee. I am not in any way a part of this process.”
“After the committee would have completed the evaluation, the report is submitted to the corporate secretary by the selected coordinator. I am not in any way a part of this process”, he added.
“When the report(s) are received by the corporate secretary the tender evaluation subcommittee would deliberate on the recommendation at a duly scheduled meeting and make their recommendations and subsequent award. I am not in any way a part of this process”, the statement further said.
“The process is quite similar for tenders for budgeted expenses more than $20m, except that the tendering process and award is done by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB)”, the former Head of Procurement stated. He emphasized that he was never involved in this process.
He further stated that “where projects are funded by funding agencies, the respective funding agency has to issue a no-objection to the award. Once again I am not in anyway a part of this process.”