Dear Editor,
Someone once said that all it takes for evil to succeed is for a few good men to do nothing. The National Assembly is meeting to debate an amendment(s) to the Procurement Act, in which the government’s primary interest is to retain cabinet’s no-clause objection to the awarding of contracts. History has shown this is fraught with danger and we continue to see the abuse of taxpayers/workers’ money, a scarce resource which if properly managed could result in improvement in the quality of life for all.
The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is a constitutional authority and must be established forthwith. Our politicians, as representatives of our interests in the National Assembly have a moral and legal responsibility to uphold the constitution, which ensures the effective and efficient management of our resources and protects the citizens’ rights.
Having taken the oath our parliamentarians must at all times respect this instrument to the letter and in their behaviour. As such every element must be on their agenda, for no one is entitled to be selective in honouring this sacred document.
The establishment of the PPC will also signal to the society that those who have taken the oath by their actions are demonstrating genuine commitment.
This country is faced with a dire situation where we are fighting for the soul of the nation.
The fight to ensure probity/justice, inclusive of the management of our money, is not one to be taken lightly, or treated with contempt, or left to the sole determination of a few. To do this would be an abrogation of our civic duty.
Cabinet’s recent Memorandum of Understanding to allow an unknown and unproven person/entity to engage in business which would cost taxpayers/workers millions of dollars ‒ more especially since there is dispute over the source of funding, which may likely end up being a situation where we, the people, have to advance the money as happened before ‒ must be a matter of concern to all. The issue of overpayment to, overcharging by, and sole distribution assigned to a pharmaceutical company with close ties to government sees money that were it properly spent and overseen could have resulted in savings and better services.
Properly spent it could have gone towards such things as buying needed drugs, satisfying the medical needs of more patients and improving services in the health care system.
In other instances where cabinet has awarded contracts, corrupting the no-clause objection, we continue to have to contend with shoddy and incomplete works. Again, with the establishment of the commission such abuses and disrespect for the public could be contained or eliminated since this oversight body would bring more rigour to the process and is answerable to the National Assembly.
When the state manages the people’s money properly it can realise improved wages and salaries for public workers, improvement in infrastructure such as roads and better social services.
The workers will have greater spending power that they will put back into the economy which would see simultaneous improvement not only in relation to their personal wellbeing, but also from the cottage industry to the megastores, etc. All in all the possibilities are greater to improve the holistic wellbeing of the people and society.
The fact that cabinet and President Ramator want to continue the squandermania and abuse of the people and their resources which were the hallmark of the Jagdeo presidency, makes it necessary to call upon the opposition majority to bring a halt to these. And where there continues to be an absence of self-restraint by members in the executive, we must, by our actions, demand they keep their hands off our money.
It is a wrongful act to deliberately violate the constitution having sworn to uphold it. And today the call is made to those who respect the constitution as a sacred instrument not to cooperate with the forces who seek to undermine the intent of the PPC by moving to have an amendment(s) that would ensure cabinet could overrule this commission and impose its position on it.
Yours faithfully,
Lincoln Lewis
General Secretary,
Guyana Trades Union Congress
