Over a year after the APNU+AFC coalition came to power it is still to deliver on the promise of a functioning Public Procurement Commission.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, PPP/C MP Irfaan Ali said that the committee is presently “shortlisting” candidates for the PPC.
He was unable to state how many nominees had been received for the five-member commission. He was also unable to state how many persons will be shortlisted or when the shortlist would be completed.
Ali had earlier this year assured Stabroek News that the PAC would complete their examination of nominees by the end of March.
The Parliament Office ran advertisements for weeks prior to the submission deadline of December 23, 2015 alerting interested persons to apply or provide a nomination.
In January the PAC had extended the deadline for the receipt of nominations to February 19, 2016. This extension was in response to a low number of submission received.
As of the end of January only six nominees for membership had been received a number with which the PAC simply wasn’t satisfied.
Article 212X (1) of the Constitution states “the Public Procurement Commission shall consist of five members who shall have expertise and experience in procurement, legal, financial and administrative matters” and (2) “the President shall appoint the members of the Commission after such members have been nominated by the Public Accounts Committee and approved by not less than two-thirds of the elected members of the National Assembly.”
This would mean that the candidates would have to have the approval of both sides of the House.
Ali, a PPP/C Member of Parliament had said that stakeholders have expressed interest in the nomination process and it was now imperative for them to act. In commenting on the extension, he called for religious organisations, the Private Sector Commission and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association along with the political parties and others to provide nominations.
The APNU+AFC government had promised the PPC within its first 100 days in office. In November of last year, the PAC commenced advertising for nominees.
The Parliament Office has via public notice said that it is the wish of the PAC that the composition of the PPC reflects as far as possible the social, gender and political makeup of the country thus it was seeking names from a reasonably wide cross-section of society.
For years, the PPP/C while in office had haggled with the PNCR, APNU and the AFC over candidates for the PPC and how many should be nominated by either side.
Both APNU and the AFC, while in opposition, had lobbied for the removal of Cabinet’s “no-objection” role in the procurement process. According to the Procurement Act, Cabinet shall have the right to review all procurements, the value of which exceeds $15 million. However, once the PPC is commissioned, Cabinet’s no-objection powers will be phased out so as to decentralise the procurement process.
Though the Act was implemented in 2003, the Cabinet still holds full powers as it relates to its role in the procurement process owing to the fact that the PPC has not been constituted. Cabinet presently signals its no-objection to contracts and only then can they proceed. This “no-objection” role had been strongly opposed by APNU and the AFC when they were in opposition.
Repeated attempts to contact coalition member of the PAC, Minister Volda Lawrence proved futile as did attempts to contact leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan.
