The government is relying on the opposition PPP/C to appear in the National Assembly, which will pave the way for the establishment of the long-awaited Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and new tendering guidelines.
At a post-Cabinet press briefing held at the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday, Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman said matters related to procurement were not at a critical state where the effects might be felt nationally.
The Public Health Ministry is currently without a drug supplier, since the $2 billion contract with the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Company (NGPC), which was awarded weeks before the May 11 general elections is currently under review. Cabinet is to pronounce on how to proceed. In addition, government halted a payment to NGPC to the tune of $572 million earlier this month.
“While we may not currently have a drug supplier, our supply of drugs is not in any state of emergency or to say that we don’t have a supply. We do have a supply of drugs and we are looking at every possibility and every alternative. As I said at a previous brief, I don’t think that the intention of government is to get rid of or to eradicate New GPC. We’d like to make the playing field a little more open and level so that others may enter the market,” Trotman said, when asked by Stabroek News if there had been a revision of the pre-qualification guidelines.
The minister did not say why such a revision had not been completed, effectively stalling the creation of a more equal playing field. Instead, Trotman stated that the review of the contract will be completed shortly.
The former administration had been criticised for its pre-qualification guidelines which many stated were skewed heavily in favour of NGPC.
As regards the PPC, Trotman noted that general and regional elections were held in May and the government was optimistic that the formal and constitutionally regulated process is still a valid possibility. He dismissed any need for the implementation of extra-constitutional measures, saying that since this issue has not presented itself, there was still time to work with the PPP/C to establish the PPC.
The minister was questioned as to the government’s timeframe for interactions with the PPP/C considering the contentions in the 10th Parliament between the two sides over the establishment of the PPC and he noted that it may be a few months.
He said that right now the government was not prepared to “avoid the Constitution.” He added, “We believe that the window is still open for us to go the approved constitutional route. To have the Public Accounts Committee appoint the Procurement Commission. We are not in a position now or see no need at this point in time to introduce any kind of extra-constitutional measures.”
Currently NGPC provides roughly 80% of drugs to the public health sector.
He said that ultimately the PPP/C would need to appear in the National Assembly in order for the PAC to be appointed which will then allow for the PPC to be appointed.
He said that given the fact that the PPP/C is likely to appear in Parliament for Monday’s budget presentation, the government will push for the PPC to be a first order of business.
Trotman did note that Public Health Minister Dr George Norton had related to Cabinet on Tuesday that a bill was received for $50 million from a Caribbean company for the payment of drugs.
Norton had previously told Stabroek News that there is still a flow of drugs to the public health sector and that drugs such as anti-retrovirals for patients living with HIV/AIDS would not be affected.
