Dear Editor,
Twenty years after the Public Procurement Commission was created it is engaged in a grotesque public display since it is specifically mandated under Section 17 of the Procurement Act, Cap. 73:05 “to investigate complaints from contractors and suppliers by way of Administrative Review of decisions of procuring entities.” Therefore, for the PPC to say “it sought and is awaiting advice from its Legal Department as to the jurisdiction of the Commission to ensure that matters brought before it for investigation are duly discharged” and then bizarrely claims “that while Article 212DD (1) of the constitution empowers the Commission to request information in certain circumstances, the subsequent sub-section (Article 212DD (2)) was not given effect by the legislature to provide for penalties or other coercive powers for the failure to comply with such requests by the Commission.”
The constitutional powers do not need to have coercive powers listed because ALL measures (Coercive, Penalties, Jail) are available to the courts to correct violations of the Constitution; further NPTAB and NIDA are Public Service bodies answerable to the PPC and again, ALL coercive methods and penalties exist under that umbrella to deal with non-compliance. It would seem we are headed for a Grangeresque three C’s, Commission, Courts, and Confusion…as seen during the delay of National Elections which were due in 2019, for if the PPC were to take NPTAB and NDIA to court, this allows the Contractor to proceed with his contract and condemns the investigation to the annals of academia. It is a disingenuous ploy and a destruction of a safeguard of our nation’s coffers.
Deputy Chair Berkley Wickham had already demonstrated great fortitude and integrity in 2019 when as Chairman of the same PPC, he refused to send contracts to David Granger’s ‘Ministerial Plenary’ which Wickham quite correctly pointed out was not provided for in Guyana’s Laws; he was duly replaced by Carol Corbin. Current Chairperson, Pauline Chase would do well to remember the legacy forged by the man whose name she bears, call a halt to this transparent prevarication, and get on with this investigation.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh
