UK publishers are weighing legal options to stop the government from buying pirated textbooks for schools here, according to The Publishers Association Limited.
In a letter published in today’s Stabroek News, Emma House, International and Trade Director of the UK-based association, stated that Cabinet’s decision in Guyana to procure pirated textbooks for public schools is an “indisputably illegal act.”
House, who runs the association’s anti-piracy campaigns in overseas territories, said that the Cabinet decision is in contravention of Guyanese law, Caribbean law, that is, Caricom’s revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and the Inter-national Berne Convention.
“The Guyanese government has not contacted publishers to discuss supply of legitimate books. This makes the government’s claim that this illegal action is justified by concern over price totally redundant and disingenuous, if not hypocritical,” House said, while noting that “The real victims of are the Guyanese children who are being provided with sub-standard resources by the Ministry of Education.”
“In light of the official confirmation by the Ministry of Education that the procurement of pirated books is approved policy, publishers will now be assessing their legal options to ensure that an end is put to this unlawful behaviour,” House added.
The Education Ministry had invited seven pre-selected local firms to supply primary and secondary-level textbooks, with the bid specifications requiring that “All text and workbook (sic) must be done to a similar likeness of the original” and identifying “printing presses, scanners, bindery… etc.” as being among the stated criteria upon which suppliers would be evaluated.
On Wednesday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon said it was a Cabinet decision to procure pirated textbooks for public schools, disregarding copyright laws once the “good quality and better price” requirements are met by a supplier.
“The procurement, whether it is copyright material, has really concentrated on value for money. I think that is… the way in which we justify the approach that is being made,” Luncheon told reporters.
House’s statement contradicts the suggestion by Luncheon that publishers had their product and the cost made available to the ministry, which was factored into decision-making about procurement. He emphasised that what is eventually authorised by Cabinet is utterly consistent with the policy in place which is “quality first, best price final.”
The books that the firms were asked to bid for include titles from Oxford University Press, Nelson Thornes, Pearson Education, Hodder Education of the United Kingdom and Royards and Caribbean Educational Publishing of Trinidad & Tobago.
Having been informed of the situation, a Royard’s representative turned up at the bid openings for the project and made a surprise bid by the Trinidad and Tobago-based publishing company.
Only five of the pre-selected firms placed bids. They were: Giftland OfficeMax ($155,084,264), Pavnik Press ($256,831,211) Metro Office and Computer Supplies ($103,671,162) Sheik Hassan Printery Inc ($78,471,330) and F&H Printing Establishment ($77,382,312).
Although Gandhi Variety Store and KRSNA & Balram Printery were invited to bid, they did not.
The Royards Publishing Company Limited bid was $103,862,200 and this newspaper was told that the figure may only be for books that it publishes.
Clifford Narinesingh, the representative of Royards who attended the bid opening, had told Stabroek News that his company just wanted to see how the tender process would go before even contemplating any legal option.
