Chartered accountant and attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram and former Guyana Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran are the Alliance For Change (AFC) nominees for the long-delayed Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
This was announced yesterday by AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan at the Party’s weekly press briefing held at the Sidewalk Café Middle Street.
The nominations will test the preparedness of the PPP/C to have professionals who have been critics of it included on the PPC.
Ramjattan said that given their impeccable records in the accounting field and that they met the appointment criteria, he was confident that Ram and Goolsarran were the “best men” for the job. He explained that with the public nomination of the duo he was sure that government would be critical and try to downplay their standing since they are public critics of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration. However he said their “freedoms of expression” should not be used to prevent them from being appointed as they are exercising their democratic right as citizens of this country. Said Ramjattan “I do not believe that their freedom of expression during the course of their public duties and their citizenship should be any hurdle or any block to them being appointed…It is people who have been talking about accountability issues and you want people who know in-depth about the issues to be there.”
Using their past work experiences as evidence of their capability and efficiency to keep vigilant checks on the much awaited Procurement body, Ramjattan prided his party’s confidence in the men and decision to nominate them to the PPC. “If there is one man that can scrutinize these projects for us in that constitutional body, it is Christopher Ram…He knows his accounting and he is a lawyer and fully qualified” he said. On Goolsarran he cited the contributions he made as then Auditor General of Guyana and noted that he was also employed with the United Nations also as an auditor. “Anand is a major scrutinizer of finances in this country… We all know what a fantastic accountant he is and his experience in the public sphere means he is fully qualified to be there”, he said.
According to Article 212X. (1) of the constitution, the PPC shall comprise five members “who shall have expertise and experience in procurement, legal, financial and administrative matters. The President is required to appoint the members after such members have been nominated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament and approved by not less than two-thirds of the elected members of the National Assembly.
Despite being catered for more than a decade ago, the body has never been constituted as the PPP/C and the PNCR haggled over nominees. At one stage Ram had been a prospective nominee of the PNCR but the PPP/C appeared unwilling to countenance his candidature. At one point of the deliberations between the two parties, the PPP/C had suggested that it be allowed three of the nominees on the commission. Observers point out however that the constitution sets out specific qualifications and these would be the deciding factors on who gets on to the commission. The nominees will require support from both sides of the house because of the two-thirds benchmark.
It is unclear how quickly this matter will be proceeded with by the PAC and whether the PPP/C is ready with its nominees.
