Even as he admitted that his agency could have undertaken more due diligence in the award of the $832,200 contract to Minister Cathy Hughes’ company, Videomega, Department of Energy (DoE) head Dr. Mark Bynoe, says that he welcomes an investigation into the matter.
“Personally, where I sit as Director, I welcome any possible investigation of any sort that persons may feel is necessary, to clear the air in terms of if there were any nefarious activities or whether it was a case of favouritism,” Bynoe on Friday told a press conference when asked about the issue.
“In short, I don’t think it is a case where we have anything to hide,” he added.
Last month, the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic accused Hughes and her company, Videomega Productions Inc., of impropriety in relation to an $832,200 contract from the DoE for the production of three 60-second television Public Service Announcements (PSAs). In response to these allegations, Hughes said that she had relinquished day-to-day responsibility for the company and was unaware of the contract award.
Stabroek News also reported last week that Videomega had confirmed that it placed advertisements on behalf of Hughes’ ministry and others. Hughes’ company benefiting from the placement of advertisements for her own ministry would be seen as a conflict of interest.
The Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) has said that indicating ignorance about a contract award is not enough and has called for the release of procurement information by the DoE related to the contract.
TIGI has called for a clear policy on the ownership of private enterprises by Ministers of Government and said that an overarching issue is that based on the revised code of conduct for public officers, the minister would need to have made or participated in making a decision that she ought to have known furthers her private interest or that of a family member or some other entity.
“Indicating ignorance about a contract award is therefore not enough,” the transparency organisation said. However, if ignorance of the award means that the minister did not participate in any such decisions or any fora at which the matter was discussed or a relevant decision was made and did not otherwise influence the process, she would not have acted on the conflict of interest, it added.
It warned that nonetheless, there could have been other influences.
“Nevertheless, even when a minister who owns a firm has not acted directly on an existing conflict of interest, there is the possibility that favouritism can be shown to his/her firm due to the known association with the government. Examination of the procurement procedures would provide important insights on the potential for such an occurrence,” TIGI said, while recalling that the Ministry of the Presidency under which the DoE falls, has indicated that there was no impropriety in the award.
“We urge however, that to substantiate this claim, refute the assertions of those who claimed otherwise and concurrently strengthen public confidence, the Ministry should release information on the procurement process,” TIGI said.
Bynoe sought to explain the contract award, saying that his department is compliant with procurement rules. He said that at the time, having just been recently established and wanting awareness countrywide, even as it sought to tender for a substantial communications firm, it felt that in the interim it would use public service advertisements.
The DoE Head stressed that at no time did the agency want a firm for the PSAs, as it understood the costs for such a decision and was looking for an individual instead.
“With regards to the issue of Minister Hughes’ firm, let me clarify. This is a nascent department. We utilise procurement processes within the Ministry of the Presidency. My understanding is, and it still remains, that the department went for an individual. We requested an individual. We were not asking for a firm. To the extent that a firm was subsequently contracted is somehow not where we wanted to go. One issue, maybe, that the department could be accused of, is possibly not doing sufficient due diligence,” Bynoe said.
He said that in retrospect, the agency could have undertaken more due diligence in the contract award and has learned from this case.
“I know yes we are new, and I said to you guys before, there may be errors made. But we are conscious of the fact that an error is only an error and a mistake is only a mistake when one doesn’t learn from it. What we have learnt is that we need to do greater due diligence in whatever we do. I think all of you in the room would have seen us advertising for a communications firm sometime back. What we would have sought to do in the interim, is we would have taken some small steps, in treating with getting the messaging out to the Guyanese populace, in terms of what is necessary as we prepare for first oil,” he stated.
He noted that the agency was working in the background, even as it put measures in place for holistic development, as is evidenced in their Facebook presence, although they only recently advertised for a website developer. Bynoe listed other programmes such as the DoE’s art and apprenticeship programmes, saying that the agency is merely building capacity.
“The PSAs are not different, they are just expected to be a short term fix or plug until that more comprehensive strategy is developed . It is not a multimillion dollar project. It is just a small project for an individual, which is why we were going for an individual rather than a firm,” he said.
“The other issue is the consideration (of) what it would have cost us to go to a firm as against an individual. It would have cost significantly more to do three PSAs for television purposes and three for radio. It was nothing more than us trying to get the message out to the public. There was no advertisement placed. Because of the size of the contract, three CVs are allowed,” he added.
