The opposition is questioning government’s attempt to go ahead with the construction of the US$18M specialty hospital at Turkeyen despite the $1.25 billion allocation proposed for the facility being chopped during this year’s budget consideration.
“There is a big question mark on government projects… there must not be expenditure of government funds [outside] of [the] approval of the National Assembly. The rules are very clear but the government seems to have created some way to bypass this and we feel that is not legal,” main opposition APNU leader David Granger told Stabroek News yesterday.
Granger stated that when the National Assembly resumes from its annual recess in October, the issue of where monies for projects for which allocations have been cut will be dealt with and questions will have to be answered.
“…We want to know where the money is coming from,” Granger added, while noting that there was a similar situation in the case of the state-run NCN, which also had its subvention slashed but continues to prosper.
Attorney-General Anil Nandlall recently said that work on the specialty hospital is expected to commence soon as a consultancy contract has been awarded to a local company.
However, during this year’s budget debate a $1.25B provision for the controversial hospital was cut by the opposition over concerns about a lack of transparency and the fact that contractor Surendra Engineering—the Indian firm that won the bid for construction—had worked on the problematic Enmore sugar packaging plant and lacked any experience building a hospital, much less a specialty hospital, which requires meticulous infrastructural work. At one point, another Indian company Fedders Lloyd had complained bitterly about being sidelined in favour of Surendra but has since abandoned its attempt to have the contract rescinded.
The cutting of the government’s proposed allocation for the hospital raised the question as to whether Surendra might have concerns about continuing with the project because of uncertainty over future disbursals. It is still unclear how money will be made available for the project considering the allocation had been axed, although the government has in several instances restored cut funds.
Granger said that while the opposition has sought over the past 18 months to hold the government accountable for how it spends taxpayers’ dollars, there appears to be a loophole.
Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh in January said that where the sums approved by the National Assembly have been found to be inadequate to meet the services of government, supplementary financing was resorted to in accordance with the Constitution and the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003. He has also reported to the National Assembly that the Attorney General had indicated that the action was appropriate and Cabinet approved.
Meanwhile, AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday condemned the attempt to move forward with the
specialty hospital, saying it is a corrupt
deal which must be halted and retendered.
“To bypass these concerns, especially the capacity to construct and equip the specialty hospital with the advanced state-of-the-art instruments, the Government of Guyana through its Attorney General, has created this un-named construction consultancy to give the impression to the Government of India and the EXIM Bank that all is now well with the project and, hence, advances can be disbursed,” he told a news conference, where he once more gave voice to the party’s call for the set-up of the Public Procurement Commission.
“This proclivity of the government to go ahead with multi-million dollar projects while it refuses to participate in establishing the constitutionally required oversight body, the Public Procurement Commission, leaves open the door to corruption and mismanagement of the people’s money. The AFC again reiterates its call for the immediate establishment of the Public Procurement Commission,” he said.
Up to yesterday work at the hospital site remained at a standstill. There was no evidence of any activity as even the gates were locked and even the security guard who once stood sentry was not there.
