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Sep 18, 2016 Features / Columnists, My Column
I was amazed at how easy it was for a group of people to bamboozle a government. In fact, the conditions were such that Governments felt obliged to be subjugated to these people. On Thursday I learnt that the government was bending over backwards to make these people feel completely at home.
At issue here are the people who profess to be contractors but who, to my mind, are nothing more than a bunch of money grabbing people.
I was around when Guyana gained its independence. The infrastructure was nothing to shout about. The main thoroughfares were nothing but strips linking the major towns and stretching along the coast. For example, what linked Vreed-en-Hoop and Parika and provided access to the villages along the way was such a strip that became almost impassable once one passed Uitvlugt. It was as if who lived beyond that point were unimportant.
It was the same along the eastern part of the country. To the colonial rulers, the link with the train was sufficient so the roadway was merely a redbrick stretch. Cars refused to use it so it was not an unusual sight when cars rode the trains to the city.
Forget the interior areas. There was no way one could reach Linden by road. Worse. Communities along West Bank Demerara and even those along East Bank Demerara were largely ignored. That changed in the post-independence years.
Initially, Guyana did not have the capability for roadwork beyond men with shovels and spades, supported by a heavy road roller, spreading burnt earth and stone to fill the Omni-present potholes.
Guyana needed vastly improved communication links so it went to tender. Bids came from firms like Taylor Woodrow and B.B. Mc. Cormick & Sons, all reputable overseas-based companies. The demand for better roads and the volumes forced Guyana to turn to local capacity.
Many of these projects were undertaken by Government-employed people with engineering skills. They were also supervised by foreign-trained engineers who took pride in their job. It was only a matter of time that Guyana felt that it had the skills to replace the expatriates once the projects were not large enough to attract foreign bids.
But time moved on and a new batch of engineers appeared on the scene. These were locally trained, were not exposed to challenging situations and might not have been properly interned. They became public servants rather than specialists.
I now understand that they are paid the money that engineers in other countries would refuse. Those desperate enough would accept the pittance and provide supervision commensurate with the pay. The result is that some of the worst roadwork became the norm. Six month after construction or rehabilitation, the road had to be resurfaced. In this way Government spent tons of money on the same road, thus encouraging other shoddy work.
I was with Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, when I learned that the graduate engineers—those from the University of Guyana—were refusing to accept jobs with the government. The pay was not encouraging.
To his credit, former President Bharrat Jagdeo, used the power to appoint contracted workers. The government was not confined to paying the employee rates dictated by the Public Service Commission.
So it was when Minister Patterson complained about an inability attract engineers for the volume of work at hand, I asked him about the possibility of employing the very engineers under contractual conditions.
He admitted that he had adopted this approach and that the Public Service Commission had increased the pay three-fold. But even at that rate the engineers were not prepared to work in the hinterland so one could imagine what he initial rate was.
Some private contractors employ their own engineers and so would guarantee that they get the better jobs. It is here that they hold the government to ransom. Having developed a reputation they would easily catch the eye of the National Procurement and Tender Administration. The result is that they would bid and get many contracts.
Now I find out that these people secure the contracts and the advances but do not attempt the work because their hands are full. They have taken too many contracts and do not have the resources to execute them in a timely manner.
This could be tantamount to fraud. For sure it is dishonesty. If I can arrange to get a few million dollars up front then I would place that money in a high interest-bearing account. If I fail to undertake the contract, all I need to do is to return the advance and all is well. I would come out ahead.
Minister Patterson told me that he cannot move against the contractor until the contract period has expired. If the contract is for two years then my advance would earn significant interest. At the same time I am working on those other contracts that I won, making even more money.
To crown it all, there has been no penalty for substandard work because the government cannot be bothered to have an issue in the courts for so long.
I pondered those things and compared them with what I recently saw overseas. I saw roads with surfaces like billiard tables; I saw overpasses that meandered all over the place. Had some of them been constructed in Guyana under the present circumstances, I am certain that they would have collapsed.
What set me thinking about these things is the clamour that jobs are not being provided. I remember the chief government spokesperson, Joseph Harmon, saying that contractors on roads in certain communities would be requested to recruit labour from those areas.
But if the contractor is not undertaking the job but leaving the contract idle, he is contributing to the non employment of people. The government would cop the blame while the contractor is the real culprit. And the government does not see this.
Certainly the laws nee changing but for now Guyana, for all the great designs at economic transformation, is no better than a chained pit bull trying to be the aggressor.
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I would suggest that the government needs to employee some decent Contract managers and Programme managers, implement contracts with the appropriate milestones, terms and liabilities …and ALL suppliers can be held to contract. Its not rocket science. it just needs the right attitude and the determination from those in positions of power to ensure that Guyana gets value for money.