It has come to public notice that a clear conflict of interest arose sometime in 2017 at the ministry with responsibility for the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) after Minister Valerie Adams-Yearwood’s husband, Godfrey Yearwood, secured a contract to build houses for the same CH&PA. Minister Adams-Yearwood is the Minister in the Ministry of Communities with responsibility for housing and the CH&PA.
The first thing that should be noted about this development is its manner of revelation. The Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo made a public disclosure after a contractor who says he was owed money by Mr Yearwood visited the Opposition Leader and complained. The complainant was not a whistleblower. He simply wanted his money. Up to the point of the disclosure by Mr Jagdeo no oversight body flagged this conflict which occurred nearly two years ago. It apparently escaped the notice of the CHPA board – which must at some point have learnt about the connection between the two personages but apparently did nothing, the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan and all the other senior government officials who should have at some point been aware. It means that the government and its defective code of conduct for Ministers and MPs are not delivering accountability in governance. The Office of the Auditor General and the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament should also have detected the conflict.
Second, both Minister Adams-Yearwood and Mr Yearwood should have been acutely aware that any transaction by the latter with the CHPA would be totally prohibited and should have taken steps to avoid it. The rule of thumb of good governance and avoiding conflict of interest seemed not to have been applied. It is unclear exactly when the contract was concluded but at whichever point that occurred, both the minister and her husband would have known that it was unacceptable for a contract to be issued to him. Mr Yearwood should not have made a bid or at the very least should have declared that he was in a conflict of interest position. The issuing of any contract to him would not be able to overcome the appearance of unfairness and influence by virtue of his relationship with Minister Adams-Yearwood. What type of due diligence if at all was done by the CHPA? Minister Adams-Yearwood for her part has declined to respond to questions about the conflict of interest, claiming indefensibly that she “has nothing to do with contracts.”
Third, it is clear to all that irrespective of its sanctimonious talk of pristine conduct by its ministers and leading officials, this government is afflicted with similar problems as its predecessor and is still to lift standards of behaviour. It is left to be seen what the government will do about Minister Adams-Yearwood. As it relates to transgressions of normative behaviour and its code of conduct which it produced many months after it was promised, the government has failed spectacularly. It did nothing about Minister Broomes and her conduct in a restaurant car park and it has been silent about the valid concerns raised about the possible conflict as a result of Minister Hughes sitting in the Cabinet while her spouse has established a Houston law office to whip up as much oil and gas business as possible. It has also not addressed Minister Lawrence’s behaviour at a PNCR district conference or the conduct of Attorney General Basil Williams in the courtroom of Justice Holder.
Commenting in April 2017 on the conflict of interest component of the government’s much delayed code of conduct, Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc said as follows:
“Article 4 of the Code focuses on conflict of interest. In addition to making nonspecific references to timeframes for resolving conflict of interest with phrases such as `as soon as practicable’ and `as soon as possible’ which can lead to abuse, it confers responsibility on the public official to take reasonable steps to avoid, resolve and disclose any material conflicts of interest that arise or are like to arise. Placing the responsibility on the person in the conflict of interest situation to take reasonable steps to address it may thwart the efficacy of the provision. We therefore recommend that conflict of interest be reported to a relevant body or individual and that a decision on how to proceed be made for that person. This should apply especially in cases where there is a blood relationship or social relationship existing between a decision-maker and the object of the decision.”
This critique was spot on and alights on a serious deficiency in the code of conduct. There was no facility to report a conflict of interest and with the onus resting on the minister she did absolutely nothing.
President Granger has not shown the appetite to discipline ministers and senior officials particularly when they originate from the PNCR and Minister Adams-Yearwood and her family have had longstanding connections with the party. The absence of decisive action by the President on these matters has seen the credibility of his government and ministers continually eroding.
