Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 16, 2016 News
Opposition Member, Anil Nandlall, has earned himself accusations of hypocrisy from some quarters since his declaration that the government should completely relinquish its no-objection role in contracts.
He said that this is especially so since the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
Anticorruption advocates recently cited an article published in 2013 by this newspaper which sees Nandlall defending Cabinet’s no-objection role when it comes to contracts.
His argument at the time was that Cabinet cannot be held responsible and accountable for the process or the outcome of a process when it has been excluded from that process. This, he said, is what not having the no-objection clause will do.
“How can Cabinet be accountable for the expenditure of these public funds when it is denied any role in how they are expended? The retention, therefore, of Cabinet’s role in the procurement process, is indispensable,” Nandlall said.
The former Attorney General argued that beyond this logic, the constitution provides for executive powers that must be attributed with the establishment and functionality of the procurement commission.
“Under the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers, the executive is assigned the responsibility for the management of the financial affairs of the State, including the expenditure of public funds. Over 75% of the expenditure of public funds by the executive is done via the public procurement process,” expressed the politician.
He said, “This responsibility is owed both to the electorate as well as to the National Assembly. The nucleus of the executive is the Cabinet. This responsibility is captured by Article 106 (2) of the Constitution which states: ‘The cabinet shall aid and advise the President in the general direction and control of the Government of Guyana and shall be collectively responsible therefore to Parliament.”
Nandlall even made reference to the entire Caribbean and countries such as Canada, Australia, Barbados and Jamaica whose Cabinet awards contracts or at a minimum, plays a significant role in the process.
He also made reference to International Financial Institutions which “maintain a no-objection role in a procurement process of every contract which they fund.”
But even in the face of accusations that his stance today is now hypocritical, Nandlall contested otherwise.
In fact, the Opposition member said that he maintains his position. He stressed however that he is holding the Government accountable to the standards it had set for itself.
Nandlall said that if anybody is hypocritical it is the Government.
He reminded that it was the same APNU and AFC that objected to his position while stating that the Procurement Commission should come into being to erase the role of cabinet.
The Opposition member said that if this is the position and rules to which the Government set for itself and the cause it fought for, then he is simply doing his duty to hold the administration accountable for it.
He concluded, “It was the AFC position that Government should have no say in procurement matters, since the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) should be an autonomous body without the influence of the Cabinet to determine who should be chosen for contracts since that could lend it to corruption.”
Chairman of the PPC, Carol Corbin, recently told Kaieteur News that the PPC is not fully established. She said that there is no office, no secretariat and no staff in place to date.
The Chairman said that the functions of the PPC are to monitor all procurement entities to ensure that they are persons in place to carry out procurement functions in a good and proper way.
She said that the Commission is to also replace Cabinet’s no objection role. But, this would be after a process. Corbin said that the PPC will work with Cabinet until the government is fully weaned from the procurement process.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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