St8ment Investment Inc, a company without any background in construction, is defending the $346 million contract it won for the building of a Primary School at Bamia/Amelia’s Ward, Linden.
St8ment was incorporated in March of this year and its principals are Rawle Ferguson and Kerwin Bollers of Hits and Jams Entertainment along with Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major and Kashif Muhammed of the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament.
The quartet has been closely linked to the PPP/C government for a number of years and Major was recently appointed Chairman of the Guyana Tourism Authority while Muhammed is Chairman of the National Sports Commission’s board. The appointments were made after the PPP/C regained office last year.
The project is being undertaken by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and in July of this year, the bids were opened. Four companies – Bulkan Timber Works Inc ($349,595,065), St8ment Investment Inc ($346,327,748), Orin’s Supreme Enterprise (348,726,772) and A Nazir & Son Contracting & General Supplies ($340,549,671) – tendered for the project.
St8ment, with the second-lowest bid, received the contract which was signed on Monday by principals of the company and Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) Dwight John.
Following the announcement of the signing, several questions have been raised about the company’s competence to execute a project of this nature along with its experience in the construction industry since its principals are from sport and entertainment.
Bollers yesterday took to their radio station to address the questions raised in the local press about the company. He admitted that the company was only formed a few months ago but said that they are being advised by geotechnical engineer Charles Ceres on all ventures. He pointed to a 2020 memorandum of understanding signed between the government and HJ Entertainment for the construction of a 400-room Sheraton Hotel and explained that Ceres is also working with them on that project.
“Yes, it is a new company but we have done a lot of background on putting together a very competent team started with Mr Ceres here and we have a very competent team in terms of executing this project [the construction of the Bamia Primary School],” Bollers told the listeners of HJ 94.1 Boom FM.
“We are here to stay. We’re now into construction for persons who are asking. Yes, we’ve expanded our portfolios,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ceres, who also appeared on the radio programme with Bollers, said that he has known Muhammed and Major for over three decades and has full confidence in their ability to survive in the construction world.
Speaking directly to the questions being raised about the company’s competence, Ceres said that there are no uniform standards when it comes to holding companies accountable and likened the questions about St8ment Investment Inc to that of racial discrimination. “When I read the articles in Stabroek News, I see a contradiction of how you perceive St8ment Construction as applied to how they perceive other people. We have an emerging oil and gas sector and there are a lot of people the only thing they knew was how to spell oil and gas…they now consult in the oil and gas industry. Why an article questioning St8ment Construction when they have never raised similar questions. Is it because of the ethnic persuasion of the people who are in St8ment Construction?” Ceres questioned.
Ceres, however, did not say what his role in the construction of the Bamia Primary School would be. Nevertheless, Bollers said that the company is currently looking to hire construction workers as they prepare for the commencement of the project.
Mistakenly listed
The Official Gazette, published on May 29, 2021, listed St8ment Investment Inc among 425 companies that “upon request have been removed from the register pursuant to s 487 (b) Chapter 89:01”. However, yesterday St8ment Investment Inc Director Ferguson told Stabroek News that the company was active and there was a “glitch” with the Commercial Registry.
Further investigation by this newspaper revealed that on July 3, 2021, the Official Gazette published the same list of 425 companies as being issued with a “Certificate of incorporation under the provisions of Section 479 (1) (b) (v) of the Companies Act of 1991.”
When contacted, the Assistant Registrar at the Commercial Registry, Reza Manraj, told Stabroek News that the Guyana National Printers Limited is responsible for the error and subsequent failure to give notice of correction.
“What the Registry would have recognised at the time was National Printery would have erroneously put that caption [that the businesses were removed from the register]. Actually what the Registry would have sent was for those companies to be presented as companies that would have been duly incorporated with the Registry and that was subsequently advertised on the 3rd of July 2021. “Now what National Printery ought to have done was to publish it as an erratum explaining due to inadvertency it was not companies that were struck off or removed from the register but companies which were duly incorporated but that was not done. That was where the whole confusion came from,” Manraj explained during a telephone interview.
The Regional Administration of Region Ten has raised issues with the process employed for the signing of the contract. They have since vowed to hold the contractors accountable and stringently monitor the project.
