It is now up to President Irfaan Ali to determine when the Natural Resource Fund Board will be established and new Public Procurement Commission commissioners sworn in as the National Assembly last Wednesday cleared the names for both bodies.
On the NRF Board, Ali had said that as soon as he receives the names of the other two nominees – one from Parliament and one from the Private Sector – he will name his three members to make up the five-member Board.
For the constitutional body – the PPC – which re-quires a 2/3 majority to be approved, some 60 of the 65 member House voted in favour, as Public Accounts Committee Chairman Jermaine Figueira told the House that the five names had the approval of both sides of the house.
“I believe that in the process that we went through, I think we have found some very good Guyanese to be able to take on this responsibility and continue the work of the former PPC,” he said while naming the five persons.
They are: attorney-at-law, Pauline Chase; financial analyst, Joel Bhagwandin; former National Procurement and Tender Administration Board Head, Rajnarain Singh; Berkeley Wickham; and Diana Rajcumar.
Stabroek News had incorrectly reported yesterday that the names were presented to the assembly but not voted on.
The Constitution provides that, “Subject to paragraph (2), members of the Commission shall be appointed for three years and shall be eligible for re-appointment, for one other term of office, not earlier than three years after the end of their first term. (2) Of those members first appointed, two shall hold office for four years.”
The PAC Chairman thanked the former commissioners for their service saying that the Commis-sion and the country is now “better off” having the foundation laid by the members.
The first PPC was established in October 2016, which was more than 13 years after the Consti-tution was amended to cater for the procurement oversight body. The first members were Carol Corbin, Sukrishnalall Pasha, Emily Dodson, Ivor English, and former Minister of Labour, Nanda Kishore Gopaul. Corbin, a former project management professional and accountant with decades of experience working at the CARICOM Secretariat, was elected Chairperson of the Commission.
The life of the Commis-sion came to an end in October 2019 but after then-President David Granger intervened, the tenures of Corbin and Gopaul were extended for one year to facilitate a transition phase.
There has been no PPC since October of 2020 and billions of dollars’ worth of public works contracts have been awarded.
And on Wednesday night the National Assem-bly was informed by Committee on Appoint-ments Chairperson, Gail Teixeira that Dunstan Barrow and Clement Sealey were chosen for Director to the Board and member to the Public Accountability and Over-sight Committee of the NRF, respectively.
She pointed out that while there were controversies surrounding the approvals, these did not require, like the PPC, a two thirds majority vote but a simple majority.
For his part, Committee of Appointments member for the Opposition APNU+AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, said that he was glad that the “controversies” were highlighted as he was putting on record that it could have been avoided if “fairness” prevailed.
“I want to state what the Chairperson stated that there are controversies here. And I want to state that in all the chat about fairness, we thought it would be becoming and welcoming that the appointees we proffered would have been appointed to this Board and that was something that would have been …the right thing to do but here again is the example of the tyranny of the majority,” he said.
He pointed out that on matters such as the selection process of members where government has a majority, “if they really wanted” fairness and transparency they would have selected one of the persons proposed by the Opposition, knowing that they would have the exclusive choice of three of the five members – and still a majority.
Ramjattan says that it is his hope that one day this country “evolves,” adding, “I suppose there will be a largeness of heart” to know that it would be the right thing given the line of “all the fairness and transparency they talk” about that all sides are involved and that the opposition can have “an eye” on the processes.
Earlier in March, President Ali had defended Barrow’s selection by the committee. Barrow is a former PNC Member of Parliament.
