Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 14, 2012 Editorial
The nation has long known that many things are not above board simply because we do not see ourselves as being strictly accountable for some of our actions. We also know that enforcement of the regulations is not one of the strong points in the scheme of things. Our administrative leaders tend to waive aside issues that appear to be small but which we know could grow into raging floods.
At present, one of the areas of focus is the recently procured hydroclave system that now stands in the compound of the Georgetown Public Hospital. That system emerged from funds allocated to Guyana during the campaign to reduce, if not eliminate, the incidence of HIV/AIDS.
The UNAIDS had allocated US$10 million to Guyana over five years, making the allocations in tranches at the end of each year. The accounts were audited by April 30 in the ensuing year. We saw many non-governmental organizations in the wake of the release of these funds. One consideration was the disposal of human waste emanating from the AIDS programme, hence the hydroclave.
This system immediately attracted funding from the US$10 million allocation. The Georgetown Public Hospital recognized the need for a human waste disposal system because the municipal incinerator had been dismantled. It then became involved in the procurement of the hydroclave. However, in a press statement, the very hospital stated that it had nothing to do with the importation of the system.
One must wonder at this attempt to divorce itself from the procurement. We now hear that the hospital has a procurement unit which then set about procuring the hydroclave system. We also hear of the World Bank conducting its own fact-finding mission toward the establishment of the hydroclave and even made more than US$1 million available.
If everything is above board then the entities should not be afraid to allow disclosure. Instead, what we are finding is that officialdom becomes extra cautious and would even attempt to avoid any query on the information presented.
In the past, especially during the previous administration, there were often press conferences to explain situations that caused queries. These days there are no press conferences because officialdom is afraid of letting too much be known through incisive questioning. But this issue demands answers.
For example, we know that the World Bank released US$1.2 million for the hydroclave system. We hear that when it examined the project it saw the need to increase the US$1 million funding it had originally made possible.
At the commissioning, the officials said that the project cost US$1.5 million; they said that they spent US$300,000 on the shed that now houses the hydroclave. The cost of the shed also warrants investigation. We see the work and we are hard-pressed to understand what about the shed is worth $60 million.
It may be that the contractors charged excessively and that the engineers who estimated the cost of the project were not unduly worried because in their book the final cost was not too much beyond what they estimated.
But if the truth be told, the shed appears to be overpriced. For that kind of money something more ostentatious could have been built. The shed was funded by the hospital. Did any authority query the cost? Has the construction attracted the attention of the Auditor General? Will the nation see an audit of the accounts?
Answers to these questions will be the basis for investigative reporting. The public is being treated to something new by way of investigative reporting. There are those who are critical of media to the extent that the former president actually referred to them as vultures. He was not keen on the scrutiny.
But in a country in which money is supposed to be in short supply and one in which there are so many things and areas that need to be addressed one would expect accountability and value for money. In fact, the former president did say two years ago that his administration would focus on value for money.
He should have welcomed the media attention to help his cause but what he did not expect was the corruption that was exposed and the direction in which the fingers pointed. He did not expect that the induced absence of enforcement would have surfaced.
Something else surfaced—the threat of dismissal if any Government official was found giving information on suspected corruption. That is why we can conclude that the officials at the Georgetown Public Hospital sought to dodge the limelight.
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