In the wake of revelations that the Lethem Town Council single-sourced the procurement of goods for the municipality after running out of time to utilize its subvention, embattled Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Nine, Carl Parker has claimed that he personally informed the Town Clerk about the unspent balance since November last year.
Parker who wrote to this newspaper to clear the air acknowledged that there hasn’t been any cooperation between the Lethem Town Council and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) during his tenure.
Stabroek News reported last Tuesday that the Town Council was informed by the way of a letter that an outstanding sum of $2,399,480 had to be utilized just days before 2016 ended. However, Parker, who has been interdicted from duty in connection with another matter, in his letter disputed this saying that he had informed Town Clerk Keisha Vincent-Williams since November, 2016 about the money. Further, he said the Town Council would have been aware of the money, which falls under the line item “Subventions to Local Authorities,” throughout the year.
When Stabroek News contacted Vincent-Williams on Wednesday she insisted that she never received any letter from Parker in November 2016. She later said that she has sought the guidance of the Town Council as to how she must treat this misinformation. Vincent-Williams who officially took office on October 31 last year had explained that she only became aware that there was a problem when this newspaper contacted her on Monday.
When contacted for clarity, Parker was adamant that he did inform the Town Clerk by way of a letter about the money and sent a reminder on December 8, 2016. Asked whether he has any proof of the Town Clerk or her office receiving these letters he responded in the negative but noted that his former office would be in possession of a book in which persons have to sign when collecting mail upon delivery.
This newspaper has seen a letter from the REO’s office, which was signed on behalf of Parker, indicating that there was an outstanding sum of $2,399,480 to be expended by the Municipality of Lethem for the remainder of 2016. The letter is dated December 19, 2016.
In the letter, it was indicated that the outstanding balance should be used to “offset day-to-day expenses and payment of wages and salaries on or before 31st December, 2016.”
The council’s attempt to procure $2 million worth of items without going through the tendering process had resulted in the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) not signing off a number of payment vouchers based on receipts prepared by businesswoman Theresa Torres, who is the wife of the Mayor Carlton Beckles.
Torres, who runs the C&T Variety Store, had agreed to supply the items on credit after being assured that she would be paid once the RDC signed the vouchers.
She went ahead with the delivery of some of the goods despite being told that it would take about three months before she could begin receiving payments.
Vincent-Williams had said that it was the Town Council’s Finance Committee that had made the decision to take the items from Torres since there was no one else at the time who was willing to deliver to them on credit.
In his letter, Parker said the Town Clerk was asked to submit a work programme for the unspent balances. However, to date same has not been submitted.
“I tried several times to make contact via telephone but was repeatedly met with the assurance that the Town Clerk will return my call. Nothing!” he said adding that he was not surprised by this since the Town Council, led by the Beckles, had adopted the posture of non-cooperation with the RDC.
“This was evident in the fact that not one single invitation to take part in the Local Government Sub-Committee of the RDC was honoured by his council. Additionally, he refused to be part of the consultation process of the Plan of Action for Regional Development (PARD), an initiative of the Ministry of Communities. These can be substantiated by the Regional Chairman, Mr Bryan Allicock,” Parker wrote.
He said too that had Beckles been attending the Local Government Sub-Committee meetings, where all relevant information in respect to local governance is shared and debated, he and by extension, the Town Council would have been informed, and would have been in a position to act on the information so provided.
Parker went on to accuse the Mayor and his council of giving directives to the regional administration with regard to the awarding of contracts contrary to all good practices and contrary to the Procurement Act.
Turning his attention to the procurement of goods from Torres, Parker informed that the regional administration “objected to the single sourcing, as we in the area know that there are many other established entities in Lethem, equally experienced in the supply of the items that were listed in your article and insisted that the competitive bidding process be followed.”
Stabroek News in its report on Tuesday had stated that stationery, toiletries and furniture were among the items to be supplied by Torres.
“I am aware that complaints have been made to the Chairman of the PNCR, Mr Basil Williams, asking that all the big contracts be awarded to six named contractors, and I explained that the procurement process is a transparent one, and that every citizen has the right to apply to be prequalified and to be awarded contacts, a position that the Chairman concurred with,” Parker said.
He noted that even though he is a known member of the PNCR and a staunch believer in the coalition movement, “in undertaking my responsibilities as Regional Executive Officer of the Region, I have always endeavoured to treat every single citizen with fairness and equity.”
A regional official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Stabroek News that what occurred was inappropriate as the standard process was not followed. The official said that money for items totalling in excess of $250,000 had to be taken to the Regional Tender Board for approval.
The official, who is familiar with the single sourcing of the goods from Torres, explained that vouchers were submitted on December 30, 2016, which was the last working day of the year. It was explained that the standard procedure was that invoices from three proposed suppliers have to be submitted for the Tender Board to choose the supplier.
The Tender Board, the official said, meets once a week. If the receipts were supplied on the last working day of 2016, there would have been enough time between then and now for a decision to be made.
When asked what happens in a case where a single sourced supplier has already delivered items without the approval of the Tender Board, the official hinted that the supplier may not be able to collect payments owed.
Vice-Chairman of the Finance Committee Ahrens Landry, in an invited comment, told Stabroek News on Monday that in order to get money from the RDC, bills have to be provided and it is then left up to the RDC to decide whether to release money. He said that with regard to the Torres matter, this was done and no objections were raised by the RDC.
He also said the Committee did not want a situation where the money was “taken back.”
Asked why the procurement process was not followed, he explained that given that the year was coming to an end and that such a process would have taken some time to be completed, a decision was made to source the product from someone, who in this case turned out to be Torres.
Landry made it clear that Parker has to take some blame. He said Parker was the person who had the power to advise the committee but he never did so in relation to the matter.
“He supposed to guide us… He has more experience than all of us,” Landry stressed.
