Minister of Agriculture of Dr. Leslie Ramsammy yesterday refuted allegations of fraud at the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), describing a report by a NDIA field auditor as mischievous.
“That’s absolute nonsense, such malarkey, that even the hardest of critics will examine it and be too embarrassed to use …What has me taken aback is the person who did the report ” said Minister Ramsammy.
He was at the time addressing a report which had been sent to President Donald Ramotar by the employee of NDIA and which was reported on in yesterday’s edition of the Kaieteur News.
Ramsammy confirmed that the document dealt with the alleged violation of procurement procedures and recommended certain administrative steps be taken. The Agriculture Minister frowned on the fact that the document bypassed him and other officers and was submitted to the President. He said President Ramotar showed it to him because it is his ministry.
Ramsammy expressed concern that the author of the document appeared bent on making out a case against alleged sole sourcing of fuel and lubricants for transportation at the NDIA and also that fuel bought was not for emergency purposes. He denied that the rules were breached.
“To say that the fuel procured was not for emergency purposes …that is rubbish because the whole world knows that we had heavy rainfall in February and up to August we were still having rains and had to do pumping all that time,” he told Stabroek News.
He said that the NDIA could not have gone to tender for emergency fuel supplies at a time of disaster when the fuel was needed immediately “Most of the time emergency fuel is for just that, for an emergency and you cannot go to tender for emergency fuel in times of disaster when there is need for fuel to start pumping immediately to bring relief to the floods.”
The Agriculture Minister said the reserve fuel purchased according to procurement procedures had been exhausted by the flood. He said he has asked the Chief Executive Officer of the NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth to release the records in the interest of transparency.
“However we make provisions for disaster and part of our preparedness, we have fuel in reserve should there be an emergency but as with all disasters there might be need for more. We tendered for fuel and the records are there to check in February and August of this year and had over 11 bidders and the lowest was selected. I have told Lionel open up, let the records show because there is nothing to hide,” he said.
Ramsammy expressed concern that the document, although prepared by an employee at NDIA was never sent to him as protocol requires but instead dispatched to the President. “He was hired by the very man he wants to smear …to ensure there is no abuse to bring transparency and it’s a shame that he would not come to P.S. (Permanent Secretary) or me and it shows the internal biases we face. I am perplexed that something mischievous like this would be done by the individual because he is not a youngster he is not 22 or 23 and started yesterday so he knows the rules”, he said.
In his response, NDIA boss Wordsworth – who was the target of the majority of the allegations in the report – told Stabroek News yesterday “It is total garbage. It is being looked at by my boss and I would rather not comment any further. ”
Misleading
A statement later in the evening from the NDIA responded to the issues raised in the KN report.
It said that the Ministry’s NDIA wanted to make clear that the statements contained in the KN report titled `Audit Report recommends dismissal of NDIA boss Lionel Wordsworth and Senior Engineer Aneel Chowbay’ are misleading and inaccurate.
The NDIA noted that the article stated that NDIA sole sourced contractors for the provision of transportation for fuel and lubricants.
“The NDIA wishes to make clear that there was no sole sourcing as there were ten (10) pre-qualified contractors for the provision of transportation services arising out of a public procurement process. Previously, advertisements were placed in the daily newspapers on Sunday, November 27, 2011, Wednesday, November 30th, 2011, Sunday, December 4th, 2011, Wednesday, December 7th, 2011, Sunday, December 11th, 2011 and Sunday and December 18th, 2011 inviting contractors to prequalify for provision of those services. The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) granted approval of ten (10) prequalified contractors, whose services would be procured in especially emergency type situations. It is to be noted that during the first half of the year, Guyana was experiencing heavy rainfall and prolonged flooding whereby transportation of fuel and lubricants from GUYOIL to numerous coastal and inland locations were essential for the efficient operation of pumps to provide relief to affected areas”, the statement said.
The drainage body said that from January to July, 2012 when quotations were required for the transportation of fuel and lubricants, out of ten contractors who presented quotations, Seeram Civil Engineering & Woodworking Establishment was the lowest, had the requisite documentation from the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) to convey fuel and lubricants along with the required truck. This, the NDIA said, made him the most qualified contractor to provide these services. The NDIA said that in July, 2012, an invitation for public bids was placed in the newspapers for the transportation of fuel and lubricants for which Seeram Civil Engineering & Woodworking Establishment was the only responsive bidder. This contract was awarded by NPTAB on August 13, 2012. The NDIA charged that the Field Auditor “mischievously omitted this fact in his opinionated report.”
With regard to the report saying that there was a major breakdown of internal control over the fuel system, the NDIA said it wished to state that there is an internal control mechanism in place to gauge the use of fuel at pump stations and other facilities. It said that this is monitored by the mechanical department of the NDIA. It added that the Mechanical Department is tasked with comparing working hours of pumps against fuel consumed to ensure there is accountability and value for money.
Addressing the field auditor’s claim that contracts for fuel already supplied were deliberately deemed as urgent and were solely awarded to Seeram, the NDIA said that in the first instance, . Seeram was awarded the contract from a list of prequalified contractors as it would be impractical for the Authority to tender for the supply for fuel every time pumps needed fuel.
“It is NDIA’s view that the Auditor’s arguments are baseless and unsupported with regard to the Auditor’s statements that 99% of fuel was not emergencies. In fact, during the reporting period, heavy rainfall and flooding was experienced that resulted in emergency type situations which required round the clock operations of NDIA’s pumps”, the NDIA declared.
It added that in both contracts of February and August, 2012 for transportation of fuel and lubricants, there was an open tender process through public tendering via public advertisements. The NDIA charged that this process was never recorded by the Field Auditor.
The NDIA also emphasized that the CEO, NDIA does not evaluate or approve contracts.
“The CEO, NDIA cannot appoint himself as evaluator of projects as this is the work of NPTAB. All quotation matters are handled by the Procurement Department of the NDIA and all approval of contracts are handled by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB)”, the NDIA said.
On the contention that the Senior Section Engineer, Aneel Chowbay did not declare a conflict of interest and continued to prepare contract documents and certify payments, the NDIA said that this is totally untrue. It said that contracts for the relative in question, Kaydar Persaud are prepared by the procurement department only and payments are certified by the Head of the Engineering Section and the Head of the Mechanical Department, not Chowbay. It further, said that Persaud’s contract was awarded after public tendering was done.
The NDIA added that there is no need for the CEO, NDIA to relinquish functions as he has never usurped those. It said the Procurement Department was in fact established by the CEO, NDIA during his tenure in office for this very purpose.
The NDIA said that Wordsworth was instrumental in forming the first audit department to deal with internal control issues. The NDIA is currently considering additional staff to strengthen that department.
“The NDIA deems the Audit report as mischievous and misleading to damage the image of the Authority for personal gains and aspirations. Additionally, the NDIA wishes to note that the Field Auditor in his capacity is not performing creditably”, the ministry statement contended.
