Dear Editor,
On February 9, 2007, Stabroek News carried a news article, ‘US$25.5M health sector reform to emphasise accountability,’ in which the Guyana government, over a five-year period, would place strong focus on institutional strengthening and physical reconstruction in the health sector through a US$25.5M project co-financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the government.
The two key words in that caption that caught my attention were ‘reform’ and ‘accountability,’ and at the time of the news article’s publication, Mr Keith Burrowes, Director of the Health Sector Development Unit in the Ministry of Health, said the new funding would be used for building on the capacity of the health sector, which actually got started in 2004 when the government set out to reform the health sector to emphasise accountability and improve the delivery of health care services.
Two major hospitals – the Georgetown Hospital and Linden Hospital – were said to be primary targets for reconstruction, while attention would also be paid to other “smaller areas,” according to Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy. But while I cannot quarrel with successful construction and reconstruction ventures in the valued health sector, even if they are partly foreign funded by repayable loans, I am duly concerned about the government’s focus on accountability in the health sector at a time when the Health Ministry has been gutted by a fire of highly suspicious origin.
I would greatly appreciate if Mr Burrowes, who was named chief investigator into the financial affairs of the Georgetown City Council, and who is sometimes a feature writer for the state-run Guyana Chronicle, could apprise us of the status of the Health Ministry’s performance in the area of ensuring greater accountability in its operations and the operations of health institutions under its supervision.
I am aware that the Health Ministry lost lots of records in the fire, but Mr Burrowes reportedly said in 2007 that some of the funds would also go towards ensuring information and maintenance systems and management were all functioning effectively. So, with money going towards enhancing information storage and retrieval systems in the health sector, and with emphasis on increased accountability, does this mean he has ready access to information on how the US$25.5M investment is going? Because there are still three years left on this five-year project to ensure reform through increased accountability and improved health care delivery.
With the Auditor-General reports for 2006 and 2007 raising red flags about the Health Ministry’s finances and procurement procedures, and with the IDB helping fund efforts to emphasise accountability in the Health Ministry, I can only hope that some of that money would have gone a far way to implement necessary corrective measures, which Mr Burrowes could update us on. It would be very unfortunate, however, if all his information on the status of the accountability and reform measures went up in the flames. But surely, there ought to have been a back-up database or at least access to progress reports filed with the IDB.
Anyway, for information purposes, can he say, of the US$25.5M for the 5-year project, how much government contributed, and whether the IDB’s portion was in the form of a loan or grant? Loans that have to be repaid really should be made public as they are spent on projects in progress, rather than wait until tons of money have been spent but projects are either unfinished or of poor quality. Other than what government says, has Stabroek News determined whether the works done on the Georgetown and Linden Hospitals are satisfactory?
In the meantime, while Mr Burrowes is absolutely correct when he wrote in relation to last Friday’s fire, “Whether reconstruction will be primarily donor-funded, the money which will have to fund the re-establishment of the physical Ministry of Health is money that could have been better spent on other crucial sectors, or even some critical aspect of health care delivery in Guyana,” (see his column in the GC, ‘Domestic terrorism at its worst,’ July 20), his poignant observation makes me wonder whether government has the funds to rebuild a structure of the same size or will it have to rely on foreign loans or grants?
If a loan is needed, and loans have to be repaid on the backs of taxpayers, can he guarantee the country will get value for its money in the construction of a new Health Ministry and not have the Auditor-General raise red flags about contractors being overpaid or doing poor quality work?
Editor, my letter may appear to focus on Mr Burrowes, but while I have nothing against Mr Burrowes, and don’t know where he is currently employed on a full-time basis, it piqued my interest when I learned that with all the questions swirling around the Health Ministry’s finances and procurement procedures that the government would select Mr Burrowes, a Health Ministry official in 2007, to head a probe into the financial dealings of the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown.
Given what I have learned about the financial affairs of both the Georgetown City Council and the Health Ministry, I would think both deserved to have independent and impartial investigators to bring clarity to their respective messy situations and recommend corrective measures. But while the Georgetown City Council has been completely probed and a report containing possible recommendations for criminal charges has been filed with the Minister of Local Government, the Health Ministry went up in flames without any investigation to determine whether criminal charges should be recommended based on issues raised by the Auditor-General. In fact, there is a strong belief out there that the Health Ministry did break the law in its procurement procedure. When are we going to see an end to double standards by this government?
To all my fellow Guyanese, I share your pain and concern over the loss of the Health Ministry housed in what I think was a landmark structure that should have been cherished and well maintained. No Guyanese with a shred of consideration and concern should feel any sense of political vindication over the destruction of the Health Ministry, because regardless of which party is in power, that building housed a taxpayer-funded social services ministry that served all Guyanese.
And while everyone might speculate on the actual cause or motive, the government has to be aware that it has to come better than it is trying to do in laying the blame on arsonists and think Guyanese will read that to mean the acts were done by anti-PPP or anti-government elements. Many Guyanese are aware of issues allegedly linking the Health Minister to the spy equipment and concerns raised in the Auditor-General’s reports, so every time a government official speaks, their words are weighed against the awareness of the public on these other issues. Quite frankly, though, both the PPP and PNC have duelling track records of dealing with fires as part of their political agendas, so the PPP and its government need to check their politics at the door of fairness and responsibility when issuing statements.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
