…House approves nominees

ESTABLISHMENT of the long-awaited Public Procurement Commission is now closer to reality, since Members of Parliament on both sides of the National Assembly approved a motion which listed possible candidates who will sit on the constitutional body.

The members, to be appointed by President David Granger following their nomination by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, are: Emily Dodson, Carol Corbin, Ivor English, Sukrishnalall Pasha, and former Labour Minister Dr Nanda Kishore Gopaul.

English is the former head of the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD); Pasha served as chairman of the Small Business Council; Corbin was Programme Manager at Caricom Secretariat; and Dodson is an experienced attorney–at-law.

Chairman of the PAC, Irfaan Ali, in presenting the committee’s report regarding the members named for the commission on Monday night in the National Assembly, credited past and present members of the PAC, and by extension members of both sides of the National Assembly, for the accomplishment.

He said that sometimes persons fail to recognise and acknowledge their own work and accomplishment, and he noted that much of what is reported in the public domain is as a result of weaknesses at the highest level in acknowledging where leadership is provided.

Speaking on the subject, he said that in the area of public procurement, Guyana may still have many challenges, but the country is one of the first Caricom member states to undertake comprehensive procurement reform by amending its constitution back in 2003.

“And these reforms were based on the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law”, he said as he noted that Guyana’s trade law was developed and formed part of the constitution with the UNCITL as its basis. He added that Guyana is one of a few Caribbean countries with a procurement system which is well coordinated and guided, with modern legislation dedicated to public procurement.

“Unlike other Caricom member states, public procurement in Guyana is specifically addressed in the constitution”, Ali said. “Today is not a day to point fingers,” he said, noting that the nation has to continuously build on the current financial landscape.

Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence, gave historical insight into the creation of the framework which led to the members being nominated to sit on the commission. She said that in the 9th Parliament, the PAC, which she had chaired, appointed the late PNC MP Winston Murray and former PPP MP Komal Chand to commence discussion on identifying nominees to sit on the commission; and at that time Dodson’s name emerged.

The PPC was also placed on the notices of the PAC as an item for discussion at each of the 92 meetings of the committee, but she noted that the matter was left as unfinished business at culmination of the parliamentary term.

She said that in the 10th Parliament, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge assumed the chairmanship of the PAC, and the committee wrote to political parties to provide names for possible nominees for the commission.

Members of the public were also invited to submit names via public advertisements, and the PAC established a sub-committee with the view to establishing criteria for the appointment of members to serve on the commission.

According to Lawrence, following last year’s change in government, Ali was elected chairman of the PAC; and, last November, the members of the PAC agreed to re-advertise for submission of nominees for the commission, and to seek advice from technical advisors regarding the understanding of the mechanisms of the commission, in conjunction with the constitution.

This was undertaken due to the large number of new members who currently sit on the PAC.

Lawrence said a sub-committee was established comprising Ali and herself, and by June 30th, twenty-nine submissions were sought, and this was further cut to the five members nominated.

“The APNU+AFC is proud, even though a few months late, to fulfill a few of its manifesto promises,” she said.

She added that the country wishes to see transparency, accountability and a level playing field in the tendering process.

“All of us — government and opposition — have brought an end to a journey which started some 13 years ago”, she added.

Lawrence recalled the memory of the late Murray, whom she noted fought valiantly for the fruition of the commission. The Public Procurement Commission was recommended by the Constitution Reform Commission in the year 2000 as a constitutional body. Its objective centres on the reduction and prevention of corruption in procurement. The Constitution provides that the purpose of the Commission is to monitor procurement and the procedure to ensure that the procurement of goods, services and the execution of works are conducted in a fair, equitable, transparent, and cost effective manner. Its functions are widespread.

The PPP, while in government, had dithered in setting up the commission; and, during the Donald Ramotar administration, had sought to make a case for Cabinet to retain a role in the award of contracts.