FINANCE Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has clarified the allegations made by Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan to the effect that government is deliberately stalling the appointment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), saying this is a gross misrepresentation of the facts and designed to mislead Guyanese, as he (Ramjattan) is known to frequently do.

He explained that the constitutional provision for the establishment of a PPC was the direct result of the PPP/C Government’s insistence that such a body be included in the constitution. For this insertion to be made in the constitution, a special majority was required and could not have been passed without the support of the ruling Administration.
“In the current instance, the Article that was inserted in 2001 in the constitution to establish a PPC is explicitly there because the PPP/C wants it there,” the Finance Minister stated.
It should be noted that the matter of appointing the PPC is not one that is exclusively the government’s responsibility; but rather is a matter that is brought to the National Assembly by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is chaired by shadow finance minister from APNU, Carl Greenidge, who Minister Singh pointed out, does not have a distinguished track-record when it comes to matters relating to public accountability.
According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), Dr. Singh stated that the PAC has patently failed to obtain and transmit to the National Assembly, nominations to the PPC and has in fact introduced all manner of things intended to frustrate the conclusion of the process.
Notwithstanding the non-appointment of the PPC, government has proceeded with the enactment and implementation of the Public Procurement Act in its fullness, with the result that the Act now provides a comprehensive legislative framework for open, competitive bidding.
“The absence of the PPC has not, in anyway, resulted in a public procurement system that is not open, competitive and transparent. On the contrary, having implemented the Public Procurement Act, we now have in Guyana, unlike the situation that obtained prior to 1992, an open, transparent and competitive public procurement system,” the Minister reminded.
Today, every bidder is able to seek procurement opportunities in the newspaper and on the internet and they can also attend the opening of bids and see what their competitors have tendered; even the media is free to attend these events.
Moreover, the results of the evaluation of bids and the successful bidder/s are announced publicly, not only at the level of the post-Cabinet press briefing but also on the E-Procure website, which was established for this very purpose. These are all demonstrations of the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability.
Minister Singh also made mention of the series of debates that was organised to give both Opposition and government ample opportunity to discuss allegations of corruption in full view of the public. One of the matters that was up for discussion was public procurement.
He reminded how government representatives turned up ready to debate the issue but even then, the Opposition failed to advance any credible instance of procurement that was less than completely transparent and, instead, resorted to political speculations.
“Their non-performance at that debate exposed the emptiness of their argument; there was an absence of a basis for their misrepresentation of the facts as it relates to public procurement. So Mr. Ramjattan’s comment as reported in the newspapers recently, is just another installment of their propaganda, designed to plant in the minds of people this idea, that the public procurement system in Guyana is not as competitive as it is…we have an open and transparent system that can withstand scrutiny and we are committed as a government to the appointment of the PPC,” the Finance Minister concluded.