Go after the facts -Pharma corruption probe launched
Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon, shakes hands with the Commissioner of the newly established Board of Inquiry, Mr. Winston Cosbert, who has been tasked with probing  allegations of malpractices in the procurement division of the Ministry of Public Health
Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon, shakes hands with the Commissioner of the newly established Board of Inquiry, Mr. Winston Cosbert, who has been tasked with probing allegations of malpractices in the procurement division of the Ministry of Public Health

A FORMER top sleuth of the Guyana Police Force, Retired Assistant Commissioner Winston Cosbert, was on Wednesday evening given the Terms of Reference (ToRs) by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, to probe the allegation of unauthorised disclosure of information, mismanagement and malpractices in the procurement of pharmaceuticals at the Ministry of Public Health. In handing over the ToRs, Minister Harmon said that Government eagerly awaits that report and the findings, so that appropriate action can be taken. “I have the confidence in your ability; I have seen your work before and you have done inquiries before. I look forward to the report. This is an important inquiry … and when you have to go after these things, you have to have evidence and facts [because] Government cannot act on innuendos and hearsay. We have to have an investigation and based on that, the Government acts,” Harmon declared.
The Board of Inquiry (BoI) will commence today and is expected to render its written report and findings to the Minister of State on or before November 30, 2016. The Inquiry is expected to take place at Department of the Public Service and at any other place, which the commissioner deems fit.
The Board is expected to investigate, examine and report on the “procurement and management processes by which the Ministry of Public Health awards contracts for the procurement of pharmaceuticals, services and supplies to bidders; whether there was unauthorised disclosure of any information on the procurement of pharmaceuticals by the staff of the Ministry of Public Health and the facts surrounding such unauthorised disclosure; the facts surrounding the allegation that Ms. Kandasie Aaron, without prior consent from the Ministry of Public Health, divulged any information on the procurement of pharmaceuticals; to what extent this specific disclosure is an isolated incident and if not, does it represent a more general practice at the Ministry of Public Health.”
It is also expected to investigate the procedure which exists to identify and control the unauthorised disclosure of price-sensitive information in the procurement of pharmaceuticals and how and when did the Ministry of Public Health become aware of these disclosures and what actions, if any, were taken by the ministry.
After the investigation and findings, recommendations must be made for measures that could strengthen information management systems within the ministry to improve the handling of protected information and deter any unauthorised disclosures; and remedial actions, or any other actions, against staff who are found to have acted improperly in the discharge of their public duties and those persons who have benefited from the actions of the public officials and for criminal prosecution or other actions, if any, against any such person found to have been engaged in criminal or improper conduct.
Following allegations of corruption in the medical drug procurement system, Public Health Minister Dr. George Norton had called for a Commission of Inquiry to be established to investigate the system and later submitted to Cabinet a proposal on the matter, with the recommendation that the allegations be investigated. He told the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday that the Ministry of Public Health had been given assurance that drugs would have been made available for the rest of the year, “and with two months more to go, we have an almost stuck-out”, he lamented. “I am peeved, because [I, as] the minister, [am] yet again being provided with wrong information,” Dr. Norton stated. He said, too, that the MoPH is being held to ransom by an anonymous letter writer “who provided us with information that suggests information was being leaked to bidders, which would give them an advantage over others in the procurement of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies.” The Public Health Minister noted that because the issue is a sensitive one, it is best that a thorough investigation be done to ascertain who the guilty players are. He said, “mischief is afoot, and I am worried, because it will paint the Government in a bad light.”

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