AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan last evening flayed the government over the award of another major contract to the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation, which contract he said has once again evaded the tendering process.
Describing the process of awarding the whopping $1.3B contract as “stealthy,” Ramjattan said it appeared as if the government awarded the contract hurriedly to beat the setting up of the Public Procurement Commission.
The Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) last week reported that Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon had announced that Cabinet had offered no objection to the contract, which was for the procurement of drugs and medical supplies for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Ramjattan last evening said that there was no competitive tendering process for the contract and as a result other suppliers were unable to bid.
“It is unfair for one person to be given this massive amount without due tendering procedures being put in place. My understanding is that this contract was awarded to New GPC and here again it is revealing massive favouritism,” the AFC chairman said.
Further, Ramjattan suggested that government fast-tracked the contract to benefit the New GPC, in light of moves to establish the Public Procurement Commission, which would be responsible for monitoring the tendering processes. “I am surprised that the President stood there as Chairman of the Cabinet and did nothing…,” Ramjattan said, while adding that the contract is one of the single largest ever awarded.
He also called on suppliers of medicines and pharmaceuticals, including companies such as IPA, to come out publicly and make statement against the granting of the award and to say how it is affecting them and the country at-large.
“This is how this government is short changing our health sector and people’s health,” Ramjattan declared.
For years, the PPP/C government has been criticised for single sourcing drugs from the company without putting the contracts through the tender process.