Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 26, 2017 News
The Public Procurement Commission (the Commission), which is charged with overseeing complaints of state contracts, has denied that it threatened to fire one of its members because he has raised issues with a multi-million-dollar probe into drug purchases.
The PPC, whose members were sworn in late last year, was a long-awaited one. It is the authority to ensure that state contracts are handed out according to procurement procedures.
It recently completed the investigations into a $600M purchase of drugs from mainly Trinidad-owned Ansa McAl. The complaint was that procurement rules were not followed.
The report of PPC is to be discussed in the National Assembly when it reconvenes in a few weeks.
It was reported in another daily, recently, that one commissioner, Sukrishnalall Pasha, disagreed with the findings of the PPC investigations and may be ready to submit his own independent report.
However, the commission in a statement to this newspaper, in disagreeing with some of the recent “inaccurate and misleading” statements about its work, insisted that it takes its mandate seriously- that of promoting the highest standards of public procurement of goods, services and the execution of works, in keeping with the laws.
“The Commission works in a collaborative manner, which affords all members equal opportunities to participate fully in its work and this, is exactly what transpired in the recently concluded investigation of the procurement of emergency drugs by the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).”
PPC said that the laws allow it, to delegate any of its functions to any one or more members of the Commission.
However, in the case of the drug purchase investigation involving the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), the commission said it did not delegate any aspect of the work to any of its individual commissioners.
“The five commissioners worked collectively throughout the process of the investigation and were all fully aware at all times of the contents of the final report, to which they all contributed and were all also afforded the opportunity to sign.
“It should also be noted that the Commission comprises five Commissioners who each took an oath of confidentiality in respect of the conduct of the GPHC investigations.
“As such, it would be inappropriate and in breach of that oath, for any Commissioner to discuss, at this time, the specific details of the findings and recommendations relating to the investigation,” PPC argued.
Sukrishnalall Pasha, a University of Guyana lecturer, with background in finance; Emily Dodson, a lawyer by profession; Carol Corbin, an economist; Dr. Nanda Gopaul, a trade unionist and former Labour Minister under the previous administration; and Ivor English, former head of the Maritime Administration and an official of the Critchlow Labour College are the commissioners.
Corbin is the chairperson.
PPC insisted that the atmosphere of deliberations during the work of the Commission has been one of mutual respect and courtesy, albeit there have been vigorous discussions and healthy debate, as one would expect from a group of mature professionals, who are all fully qualified and experienced in their respective areas of expertise (procurement, legal, financial and administrative matters).
The commission denied that there was any instance of acrimony where any commissioner was threatened with being fired, “since all the Commissioners are fully knowledgeable of the Articles of the Constitution under which the Commission was established and the provisions relating to appointment and removal of Commissioners.”
PPC denied it “hurriedly scrambled” to formulate rules barring commissioners from speaking to the press.
“The Commission has crafted no rule that states that commissioners cannot speak to the press. It should be noted that, at a very early stage of the life of this very new commission, it was recognised that, unlike what obtains for commissions such as the Judicial Service Commission and the Public Service Commission, the Constitution does not have a list of rules that pertain to the functioning of the Public Procurement Commission.”
PPC pointed out that Article 226 (2) of the Constitution states, however, that “subject to affirmative resolution of the National Assembly, a commission shall make rules relating to the procedure of the commission; and until such rules are made, the commission shall regulate its own procedure”.
It was in this context, the commission said, that it agreed to craft a set of interim, general rules, along the lines of those enshrined in the Constitution for the Judicial Service Commission and the Public Service Commission, pending allocation of resources to acquire expertise to draft legislation to govern the functioning of the Public Procurement Commission.
“As it relates to the most recent investigation into the procurement of emergency drugs by the GPHC, the Commission reiterates that its formal report has already been submitted to the National Assembly and no further comment will be made on this matter until the National Assembly has an opportunity to consider it.
“At that time, if necessary, the Commission will make a full statement about the conduct of this investigation and the persistent misinformation being peddled in the public domain.”
PPC said that the commission, as an independent body, will stoutly resist any external efforts to direct and control its work.
“The Commission will continue to execute its mandate without fear or favour and remain above partisan politics. Any attempt to use the Commission’s work to satisfy any specific political agenda will be rejected.”
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