This has got to be the irony to end all ironies. The APNU+AFC government was intent on quickly ending the sole-sourcing of drug procurement/storage and this is why it sole-sourced a bond from a businessman who has no credentials in this business and whose facility is still not ready to store pharmaceuticals. Coming just months after the yet unanswered scandal surrounding Minister Harmon’s trip to China, President Granger now has a major credibility problem on his hand. It is not only about what the Minister of Health, Dr George Norton did or didn’t do about the bond. It is about whether President Granger can create a culture distinct from the corrupt and shadowy deals that were de rigueur under the former PPP/C government and whether he is prepared to act decisively in defence of this mission when necessary as is the case now.
Unfortunately, in the face of what is a scandalous deal that should be immediately scrapped, the government has gone into full damage-control mode with the President himself attempting a defence of the indefensible. In answering a question about the bond arrangement on ‘The Public Interest’ programme, the President said “The Ministry of Public Health attempted to avoid the pitfalls which prevailed under the previous administration… what happened is that the new administration decided to bring an end to single-sourcing…
“Government found it impossible to pay the new rate being charged by the corporation under the old arrangement…It was almost impossible, punitive, which caused the government to seek a new bond…
“They had to think about short-term storage of drugs and that led to the adoption or quest for a new bond under Linden Holdings, a new company. It was an act driven by necessity, not by any kind of perversity. It was an act done because the old arrangement, single- sourcing, was brought to an end and once the corporation that was the beneficiary of that system discovered that, they imposed what was called punitive rates and the government had no choice but to seek a new bond to store pharmaceuticals”.
Taken all together, this attempted defence by the President exposes the administration as inept and duplicitous and at worst, prone to the same shenanigans as its predecessor. The single-sourcing of drugs by the former PPP/C administration and its tailoring of pre-qualification guidelines to ensure a NGPC monopoly had rankled in the ranks of the opposition for around a decade. The late PNCR MP Winston Murray and others on the opposition benches had battled in Parliament for answers as to why NGPC had become a sinkhole for billions of dollars of contracts to the detriment of competitive bidding. These questions continued to be asked by both APNU and the AFC in the lead up to the 2015 general elections and it was clear that if they won the elections that drug procurement would be radically revamped. So President Granger and his administration had a full 15 months to disengage in an orderly fashion from the monopolised drug procurement from NGPC and to find a new arrangement that enabled both competitive bidding for drugs and the most suitable arrangement for storage. Why then 15 months later has it been caught in a slapdash deal with an individual unknown to the drug storage business whose bond is yet to be ready? Worse, from all appearances, Linden Holdings appears to have taken the $25m advanced to it by the government to finance the purchase of the building in Charlestown and will now profit from this “easy” financing. For Linden Holdings to be so readily favoured with this contract it had to be the Usain Bolt of drug storage. It clearly is not and can’t even make it out of the starting blocks.
In his defence of the deal, the President also cited the price differential between NGPC and Linden Holdings and the need for short-term storage. The President and his health officials would be aware that the integrity of the vast amount of drugs usually stored should not be compromised by a rash decision to relocate simply on the basis of cost. If paying NGPC a couple of million extra was necessary to offset the government delay in arriving at a relocation decision then so be it. Even so, the cost per square foot works out cheaper at the NGPC facility. As it relates to short-term storage, the Linden Holdings bond is not even ready and is clearly being hastily cobbled together, raising further questions about its suitability and whether it meets the required standard.
The crux of the matter for President Granger, his Cabinet and Dr Norton is this. Who in Cabinet raised the need for an urgent shift in drugs storage and who suggested that Mr Lawrence Singh of Linden Holdings was an appropriate candidate for the supply of this service? Was there even a modicum of due diligence? Was there the slightest enquiry into the bona fides of Mr Singh? Why at some point of the discussion wasn’t there the sage advice that an urgent public notice should be issued inviting expressions of interest for the provision of drug storage for the public health system? If it was the case that it was the Minister of Health who lobbied for Mr Singh’s company knowing full well that neither Mr Singh nor Linden Holdings could be considered the best options for this vital service then, considering his untruths to Parliament and his flippant manner of answering serious questions, his position is untenable as it would represent deception of the worst order. If it was the case that it was some other minister or official who lobbied for Linden Holdings that should be disclosed to the public and Cabinet must also accept responsibility for its gross dereliction of duty in this matter. The public awaits clear answers from the government on this scandal which again underscores how vital it is for the coalition to honour its solemn manifesto commitment for a code of conduct for its ministers and a robust Integrity Commission.
