Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo has said that the government has breached the financial regulations by using the Contingency Fund instead of the Consolidated Fund for the single-sourcing of a pharmaceutical storage bond.
At a press conference at Freedom House yesterday, Jagdeo pointed out that if single-sourcing is done, government has to secure the permission of the Central Tender Board (CTB).
The bond in question is located at Sussex Street and was selected by government to store pharmaceuticals for the Ministry of Public Health.
Public Health Minister Dr. George Norton had said too that the bond was due to the urgent need to find a new storage facility in light of the $19.2M per month that government was paying to use the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Company bond.
The government is to pay the new rental company, registered as Linden Holding Company, $12.5M a month and according to the minister there was no public tendering because it “was an emergency.”
Jagdeo said that the $19.2M included VAT for the 70,000 sq. ft. facility versus a $10,000 sq. ft., which excludes VAT for $12.5 M.
Observers have questioned a $25M deposit handed over to the company since the bond is not yet finished as well as how the company became aware that there was a need for a storage facility.
Jagdeo said government claimed that “it did sole-sourcing because of an emergency and that they needed to move the drugs in swiftly. But it was no emergency because they were still fixing up the bond two months later.”
Responding to a question about the former PPP/C government being accused of sole-sourcing, the Opposition Leader said “sole-sourcing is different from pre-qualification…”
He said the PPP/C government bought drugs from pre-qualified companies and that the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Company (GPC), which was a supplier, was pre-qualified.
Jagdeo explained that standards for pre-qualified companies have to be established by the PAHO/WHO and government would then go out to tender for companies who wish to supply drugs and can meet these standards. Critics had argued that the PPP/C had designed the pre-qualification criteria to favour GPC.
Jagdeo said that “people then submit their pre-qualification requests and an evaluation committee is established to assess the proposal.
According to him, pre-qualification is done every three years but the government can have it done yearly. He said government is “purchasing drugs through the open market, without checking how it is stored or the shelf life.”
Meanwhile, inspectors from the Government Analyst Food & Drug Department, which is responsible for inspecting public storage bonds for pharmaceuticals, have not been asked to inspect the still under-construction Sussex Street storage bond
“Contrary to the Food and Drugs regulation, which requires the Food and Drugs part in the inspection process, there has been no [request] to the department in the matter even though it has a legitimate role in the process,” a usually reliable source told Stabroek News.
Norton had also said that the Sussex Street facility was PAHO/WHO approved, but no certification was given by the named international agency since that is not its mandate.
The disclosure by Norton was made during questioning of the line items in the financial paper covering the period of January to July, 2016 to the tune of $931,018,292, which was eventually approved.
