The Ministry of Public Works has not been issuing contracts in a discriminatory manner as is being alleged by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), according to Minister Juan Edghill.
“APNU seek to create in the minds that [PPP/C] have some kind of discrimination when awarding contracts…. It is rubbish and must be debunked,” Edghill stated in a video yesterday on Facebook. He noted that when there are more than a thousand road work contracts being executed simultaneously the ministry has to engage at least several hundred contractors and if it were the case that contracts were awarded to the PPP/C’s family and friends, then the PPP/C family is quite large.
However, it is not so and since coming into office, he added, the Ministry has engaged dozens of new contractors who bid for work through the procurement process.
“At the Ministry of Public Works alone, somebody is admiring the PPP/C development agenda and the accelerated pace at which works are being implemented and are facetiously trying to quash it by calling what is taking place for family or friends. Somebody who only see things through a racist lens,” he stated.
The insinuation made, however, is a wrong one as Afro-Guyanese including women are getting their fair share of contracts, said Edghill, before adding that there is not one contractor can say that they have not been awarded at least one contract or haven’t been engaged by the Ministry.
Edghill further stated that when the government gets complaints from the people that they are not getting work, they investigate and try to provide a solution which will enable them to get work done. According to the minister, when the people of Buxton complained about that, investigations revealed that people were getting contracts and work and those that weren’t didn’t have the necessary documents such as tax compliance or NIS.
“We took in people to GRA as well as well as NIS to help them get started with the process and get their compliances in order. Then give them a good start by using a community approach – a start up to build financial base and capacity to get into the systems. That has happened over and over,” he stated.
Edghill said that people who are being contracted for work in areas like South Georgetown or Linden are residents of those areas. He stated that a few months ago, the ministry awarded ten contracts to Lindeners and when this was done a Member of Parliament went to residents and asked them not to execute them.
“So if we are awarding contracts to our family and friends, then the people of Buxton are our family and friends, the People in Linden are family and friend, the people of Albouystown, Den Amstel, Tiger Bay are family and friends of the PPP/C,” he said.
