Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 12, 2021 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column
By GHK Lall
Kaieteur News – It is encouraging to read of mounting interest in, and increased pressure for, the appointment of members of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC). This has taken too long, and a great many things that don’t add up have taken place at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). In a small mouthful, if that is ‘Tender Administration’ then we have nothing. I correct myself: we have nothing, but the tricky and the inexplicable, involving the award of contracts for large sums of money. One might be considered an honest oversight, but given the number of them, the beneficiaries of such awards, and the steady trickle of what reeks of the troubling, a PPC is overdue.
It cannot be any kind of PPC body cobbled together to perpetuate the shenanigans occurring at NPTAB. The final composition of the PPC must not be mistaken in its membership to be inseparable from the PPP/C. All I will say today is that the men and women chosen for a PPC that would serve as the urgently needed filter and sentinel over NPTAB’s handiwork must be Guyanese who raise applause and not give pause. In other words, Guyanese of integrity (if we can find them), and not more of the indecency and iniquity that populate public entities in this country. We can’t afford that; we don’t want it. It would encourage if we can have a functioning PPC soon, but only one that is principled and possessing what it takes to deliver consistently what is untainted and uninfluenced work.
I am intrigued that the Hon. Deputy Speaker of Guyana’s National Assembly is speaking up: ‘PPP has no respect for Amerindians.’ I am encouraged that the Deputy Speaker took this tack for his people, and he must be commended for putting a foot (finally) in the right direction. But, to use a Guyanese expression, his foot too short. I say this, because the Deputy Speaker should know that the PPP has no respect for any Guyanese, save its criminal cronies, close insiders, and the company of countrymen who rob this society blind.
Respect for others has never been part of the communication, body language, or character of PPP leaders and their comrades. It cannot be, since they never had the grooming from an early age; or if they did, they seized the first opportunity to discard respect and honesty and ethics, when they came close to money and power. Any respect for anything (other than other people’s cash), and anybody (but their own) went out the window in a hurry. The Deputy Speaker should need no reminder, because all he must do is to reflect on how the PPP treated him, after he decided to do business with its leaders.
There is a lesson in there for others, similarly ambitious and willing to pawn principles. He has taken the bull by the horns and spoken out on insulting Amerindian developments; now he must show what he is really made of, could truly redeem himself, by casting his eyes, and raising his voice on all the other areas that highlight the great disrespect of the PPP for all Guyanese. I give him a hand: contract award corruptions, lack of presidential transparency, Vice Presidential slipperiness on oil and gas, and more.
I am encouraged that “Guyana will train regulators to hold oil companies accountable -President Ali” (KN December 7). Now if only that could turn out to be right. It is a good statement, with a clean ring.
However, I am yet to come across something of this nature that the President commits to, then delivers without significant elements missing. I regret having to say this: his words are encouraging, but I don’t believe him. As Exhibit A, I hang over his head (and his versatile VP) Guyana’s EPA. It has been trained to where it couldn’t hold a dog accountable for lifting its leg and giving a free washing to car tyres. The President may be fooling the smart folks at the Harvard Business School. He should not try the same with me. Seeking to fool is one thing, struggling to make a damn fool of me is another. Take that garbage somewhere else, sir.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 28, 2024
Minister Ramson challenge athletes to better last year’s performance By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – Guyana’s 23-member contingent for the CARIFTA Games in Grenada is set to depart the...B.V. Police Station Kaieteur News – The Beterverwagting Police Station, East Coast Demerara (ECD) will be reconstructed... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – In the face of escalating global environmental challenges, water scarcity and... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]