Dear Editor,
President Ali came up with something that seems to have as an objective stemming the tide of troubles that plagues public contracts. He has just announced that each ministry will have its own evaluation unit to oversee contracts awarded by the government. In most countries outside of Guyana, I may be inclined to commend such a development. Sorry, sir; not in Guyana. My hands have been burned too often. When expectations were that finally Guyanese were going to get something good from the PPP Government, a hasty retreat had to be beaten time and again.
On the surface, there is everything to like about an evaluation unit embedded in each government ministry. My concern is the amount of financial mileage that taxpayers will get from them. Would it be to line up against a wall the army of shoddy contractors, and the lousy work that they do, or would it be another standup with Guyanese hopes falling flat from being jilted again? In the former instance, when the right people are gotten to populate evaluation units, then there is a chance for discipline and cleanliness from contractors. On the other side of this coin, there is the greater probability that these units could turn out to be yet another smokescreen. Meaning, one where the government gets to say that there is a process in place and that it hasn’t found any problems, has no reports of anything of illicit substance.
Let there be no mistake, this entire business about evaluation units revolves around having the right people overseeing contract performance. When they come to the table of scrutiny with a view to getting true value for each taxpayer dollar spent, then the corner on contract underperformance (corruption) could be turned. To my mind that sounds like raising the Titanic, even with the right people onboard. This is where Guyana finds itself with contract disasters. But here is the thrust of this skeptical take on Excellency Ali’s announcement about evaluation units. Most of the people that the PPP Government will be keen on for those evaluation units are its own known and proven loyalists. No others will do, since so much is at stake. To say this another way, I share an extract from another writing: the units will have to be peopled by PPP- trusted to evaluate PPP contract awardees and had better produce PPP kinds of reports. There cannot be the risk of too many independents and untouchables in those units, or the whole ramshackle contract performance architecture collapses. The bad and beautiful is that PPP agents will be entrusted with the honour of watching taxpayers’ milk and party milkers. Now absorb this: the greater number of winners of contracts are from serious PPP circles. Serious is a synonym in this case for powerful. Try rocking their boats, dare attempt to roll their heads. Making them look bad is to make Robb Street and Main Street and New Garden Street (sorry Shiv) all look worse. Are these the only kind of people that the PPP knows? I think so. They must be protected. This reduces those planned evaluation units to show horses and sinecures looking over sacred cows and holy bulls. I like that: show horses guarding sacred cows, which means that there can be only one type of offspring: trick ponies or song and dance circuses. Just like those Exxon public consultations.
This is how a good thing on paper develops rough edges before it gets out of the starting gate. In case picky Guyanese are overwrought about mangled metaphors, they should focus instead on the nuances in this presentation, and the familiarity of them all. Thinking of the pending arrival of these evaluation units, the Public Procurement Commission is now confined to the poor ward. No tonic. No temperature. No right to life. Lastly, I am getting worried. The word is that skeptics and deviationists are going to have to apply for government licences to speak or write. There is Class I, II, and III. The more public space is invaded, the higher the price for the constitutional luxury of free speech. Evaluation units can be an emblem of excellence. Just don’t inhale, Guyanese.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
