At his press conference on Thursday at PPP Headquarters at Freedom House, the General Secretary of the party, Bharrat Jagdeo raised concerns about reportage in the press about problems in the procurement sector.
Mr Jagdeo said thousands of contracts are being carried out around the country in the various sectors and that these contracts when completed on time to the benefit of citizens are never focused on instead there seems to be a bias now to focus on a few contracts “the few that may have some issue and make that seem as the prevailing condition.”
This, he said, was something his party faced in the 2015 period as well “when they tried to characterize the People’s Progressive Party as being corrupt and so they are at it again.”
Noting the contents of the Stabroek News editorial of June 24th, ‘Award to Kares Inc’, Mr Jagdeo said that he had never seen such a strong position under APNU+AFC’s five years “when there was practically no public tender, when ministers were directly involved in their ministries in giving themselves contracts, there were no public tenders, there was no document to evaluate, there was no evaluation, there was no paper trail so you can’t investigate anything.”
It must be the case that Mr Jagdeo is forgetful, uninformed or simply ignoring the facts. Stabroek News has had an unremitting stance against procurement fraud and associated illegalities and this definitely encompassed the period of the APNU+AFC term in office.
Just for Mr Jagdeo’s benefit we will refer to just one of the many cases covered in editorials and elsewhere under APNU+AFC’s tenure – the infamous $605m tender for the supply of drugs on an emergency basis while Volda Lawrence was the Minister of Health. The Stabroek News editorial entitled ‘Emergency procurement of $605m in drugs’ said in part: “Based on the statement on Saturday, Minister Lawrence and her ministry appear to have devised their own procurement law and are now a law onto themselves. It defies belief that Minister Lawrence, a former Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, would engage in such unlawful conduct. An accounting officer appearing before the PAC with a story similar to the one presented by Minister Lawrence on Saturday would be immediately banished from the hearing…
“It is mind-boggling that any procuring agency can operate in this manner even considering the major challenges posed by drug supply at the GPHC. This transaction and the fact that it appears to have proceeded must attract urgent and serious scrutiny by the government. The Granger administration cannot play fast and loose with the procurement law. Certainly not after it pilloried the PPP/C for years over the favouring of the New GPC. The law is the law. It is sacrosanct and inviolable. Those who breach its premises – minister or not – must be held fully accountable. The President and Cabinet also have to be heard from on this issue. Did Cabinet grant a no-objection for this massive contract?…
“These latest developments in the drug procurement system – coming on the heels of an earlier inquiry that led to the removal of the Public Health Permanent Secretary – further attest to the fact that the Granger administration is yet to grasp control of vital administrative areas. Its leading officials continue to underperform, dissemble and manufacture unlawful manoeuvres. The Charlestown drug bond is a clear case in point at this very ministry.
The public will await with great interest further information from Minister Lawrence and the NPTAB about the details of this drug procurement and then it will be for the government to act”.
Another editorial on the same matter of July 10, 2017 said in part: “The APNU+AFC government had already been in office for six months when the first applications for the suspension of normal procurement procedures began coming in. It raises serious questions about the stewardship of the former Minister of Public Health, Dr George Norton and the former management and board of the GPHC. What about Cabinet? Why was it not aware of what was happening here?
“It is now left up to the two inquiries to pronounce on the events that led to the $632m single-sourced purchases, who authorised them and how the illegalities should be resolved. There is also the matter of the role of the current Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence in the scandal. She had been reported by her own ministry as stating that she had fast-tracked the purchases. The minister and other key players in this matter have been interviewed by the PPC. The credibility of the government as it relates to procurement is on the line”.
There were several scathing editorials on the twisted arrangements under the APNU+AFC Government for the D’Urban Park stadium and the inexplicable renting of a drug bond on Sussex Street. Mr Jagdeo can easily acquaint himself with the facts. What might however be at play here is that the PPP/C government is trying to deflect attention from the clear transgressions of procurement rules such as in the case of awards of the GDF wharf contract to Kares Inc and the pump station to Tepui Inc.
If a strong line has been taken by this newspaper on procurement under this administration it is because the public has seen evidence of the PPP/C’s shortcomings over 27 years and there appears to be no end in sight. All manner of rascality and deviousness have been applied to ensure that contracts are channelled in a certain way. Drug contracts to the New GPC were an earlier source of contention for other bidders and with the large amounts of monies flowing into the economy the concerns will escalate across the board.
Nothing has been said so far by the government on the award of the GDF contract to Kares Inc to dispel the view that this had been steered at various levels in contravention of standard procurement rules. The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has already made its position clear and it was never formally countered by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) when given a chance to do so by the PPC. Aside from the disrespect shown to the PPC, the NPTAB only responded after Stabroek News reported in detail on the matter. And even then the NPTAB concocted an explanation which was different from its initial response to the PPC.
On June 27th, the NPTAB contended that the evaluation criterion – that the bid must not be below 80% of the engineer’s estimate – had been “discontinued years ago” although the procuring agency, the GDF, and the PPC seemed wholly unaware of this. When it had first been asked for an explanation, the NPTAB had given the PPC a completely different story. It said that the financial assessment was not part of the evaluation not that the criterion had been discontinued.
No matter how the government tries to pretend otherwise, there are major problems in the procurement system which point towards corrupt intent and that is dangerous to public safety, the public purse and propriety. These corrupt practices cover a variety of ruses and methods including the leaking of vital contract information at ministries to preferred bidders, the corrupting of evaluation committees to produce a certain result – the Tepui contract is a clear case of this – and the employment of various excuses to justify awards even as the PPC resiles from taking decisive action to right wrongs. If the government is serious about financial probity there would be a full investigation of questionable awards under the NPTAB and corrective measures taken. With all the revelations recently, those engaged in procurement fraud will seek cover which is why the government must act now and decisively.
