The latest AFC effort at re-packaging

IT’S too early for Christmas, so maybe it was intended to be a Mashramini gift, or rather grief of sorts to the nation.The AFC apparently thought it could have fooled Guyanese by re-packaging its ‘politricks of blackmail’ into a package of ‘compromise’.
The moment Old Kai read the term ‘compromise’ and the AFC’s name was not far behind, right then and there I knew it was another con-promise. These people are ‘Always Focused on Conning’ our people!
I am sure when most Guyanese read the headline about the AFC saying it was now ready for compromise and consensus with the government, they would have collectively sighed, ‘Finally’.
Old Kai’s question would have been: why did it take so many years for them to finally come to this position? Why could they have not approached politics in such a manner since 2012, and avoid the destruction they instigated, such as on the Agricola Public Road and in Linden; getting Guyana blacklisted; illegally cutting the budgets and trying to kill transformative projects which will directly benefit our citizens?
My next question would have been: does this mean that Nigel Hughes calls for ‘no peace’ in our country would be changed to ‘mo peace’? And the follow-up: can we take this to mean that our people and their future in Guyana are no longer considered ‘collateral damage’?
But all these questions and hundreds more are not necessary, as a closer look at what the AFC meant, rather than the big eye-catching headline confirmed that they were trying to pass a ‘6-for-9’ on the Guyanese people. Old Kai’s mammy remarked that they are no better than the ‘pickpockets’ at the bus parks.
The headline in the opposition mouthpiece read, ‘AFC compromises on Cabinet’s no-objection clause for PPC’, then the nice, flowery language followed by David Patterson, “We understand that the government has reservations about setting up the commission. We have indicated our willingness to compromise, and reach a mutually agreeable position that best satisfies the needs of the nation.”
Then compromise suddenly gave way to the blackmail politics again. “The AFC has said that it is willing to support the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Terrorism Amendment Bill, provided that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is established.”
This is followed by the glaring contradiction of the headline, as Khemraj Ramjattan chimes in to reaffirm: “The Procurement Commission shall lie at the apex of the hierarchy. Cabinet, if it feels vexed about a certain award going to a certain person or corporate entity, can complain to the Procurement Commission, and whatever decision the Commission makes is binding.”
As usual, complete nonsense coming from Khemraj Ramjattan and the AFC. To take away the government’s ability to offer an objection or no objection to a project in the execution of their plans and policies for our nation–which they were elected to do–is a direct attack on the legitimacy of the State and its various arms, in this case, the administrative component.
Let us be reminded that this issue is about more than procurement, as it also serves to support Government’s policies, chief among them being national defence and security. Can you imagine! The Government moving to implement its security policy, but a project approved by the Public Procurement Commission does not meet its requirements! That all it can do is offer an objection! But according to the AFC, this can easily be overruled by the PPC.
So, where is the authority and autonomy of the administrative arm of the State in executing its functions in such a scenario? The PPC will now be in charge of dictating Guyana’s security and economic policy! This is what the opposition is hoping to foist on the nation, and is leading people to believe that the Government is being inflexible. The Government is acting in the interest of the future security of the entire State, and it has no alternative but to hold on to its current position.
Recently, we witnessed the opposition’s attacking efforts to map our resources in the New River Triangle area and what could be termed strategic support for Suriname, which has laid claim to that section of our territoty.
Government has indicated that it will continue to pursue efforts to map its resources in each and every part of our country, as other countries are trying to do. Not engaging in such an assessment would be like jumping on a boat and sailing out to sea without checking on your provisions to know how long they will last you.
If we had the AFC’s version of the PPC in place, well then, clearly they would have killed such a strategic move by our Government, and when the Cabinet would have raised an objection, quite possibly it would have been overruled.
Need I mention what would have also occurred with the Indian company which employed Khemraj Ramjattan to fight for it to be awarded a contract to build the Specialty Hospital? Clearly, that is not seen as corruption in the eyes of our Opposition.
A 2012 report by the Centre for Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS) in India had this to say about the procurement system: “Public procurement is an activity not merely for meeting day-to-day functional requirements, but also for underpinning various services that are expected from the government, e.g. infrastructure, national defence and security, utilities, economic development, employment generation, social services and so on.”
It goes on to state: “Furthermore, government procurement activities and operations have a direct effect on market behaviour. Governments around the world utilize procurement and distribution activities to stimulate and promote local manufacturing and production capacities; set benchmark prices in essential goods and services; prevent artificial scarcities arising through hoarding and black-marketing; subserve socio-economic policies of governments through extension of preferences to disadvantaged sectors of the economy; sometimes even provide support to priority sectors for becoming more competitive and export oriented. The importance of the subject is becoming increasingly vital.”
With this in mind, you can begin to see the dangers of the current AFC proposal. Add this to the fact that this very party, with APNU, illegally slashed over $50B in Government public sector spending from the budget without offering any valid reasons for two consecutive years.
Clearly, it is their intention to use the Public Procurement Commission as another vehicle to execute their plan to cripple the local economy, simply to make the PPP/C Government look bad. No concern for our citizens, as when all the above-named sectors are affected, it is the average man and woman out there who will lose their jobs, and witness a decline in their standards of living.
The AFC clearly expects the Government will compromise the future economic security of our citizens by giving in to their demands and threats. Getting Guyana blacklisted is their latest attempt to play ‘Russian roulette’ with our nation’s economic well-being. The PPP and the PPP/C Government cannot let them win this dangerous game.
In closing, it is fitting for Old Kai to touch on the issue of State control over the procurement system, as a number of major countries have voiced their concerns about the local system we have in place, including the US Ambassador to Guyana.
This is what a 2003 report had to say about the procurement system of a particular country: “…the President is responsible for implementing procurement statutes and procurement authorization and appropriations. He establishes government-wide procurement policies and procedures through executive orders; makes political and management decisions relative to procurement programs; and appoints agency heads and other officials who have direct or indirect management control over procurement programs and procurement organization.”
Any guess to which country the report is referring in which the head of state exercises so much control over the Procurement System? It is the very United States of America.