–to protect Guyana from oil curse, says anti-corruption expert

STRONGER procurement and whistleblower legislation are among key areas that must be seriously addressed to protect Guyana against the oil curse.

Guyana is expected to pour its first barrel of oil in less than three years, but even as it prepares to do so, it is being urged to strengthen its procurement system and protect persons who might report suspicious and /or corrupt activities.

Addressing these matters was Trinidadian anti-corruption activist, Professor and fellow of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Afra Raymond, who was among numerous speakers leading a two-day discussion titled, “Public corruption and the Oil Curse,” held at the Pegasus Hotel.

Raymond told an audience of diplomats, private and public sector representatives, representatives from the legal fraternity and civil society that Guyana’s procurement legislation is inadequate.

Although commending strides made in the procurement system, he pointed out that section of the 2003 Procurement Act has “loopholes” allowing for unscrupulous activities.

Raymond contended that the section of the Act referring to international agreements was specifically engineered to create an opening.

The Act states that its provisions will apply, “…unless they conflict with any provisions made applicable by virtue of an international agreement.”

In other words, international agreements of any financial size could be made outside of procurement laws, he said.

Raymond also took issue that Cabinet has the right to review contracts as stated in the Act. The Act declares: “Cabinet shall have the right to review all procurements the value of which exceeds G$15million.”

The academic views this as interesting, given the relatively low threshold in relation to Guyana’s exchange rate, pointing out that in his homeland, “…we would regard it as backward if Cabinet had the power to review procurements of a size like that.”

With regard to the provision that stated a procurement contract would be given to the lowest bidding contractor that complied with requirements of the bid invitation, Raymond said that such a mechanism should not be used where intricate building designs, large finances and technical issues are involved.

He said they can however be used for much simpler matters, where items are identifiably specified, pointing out that the lowest-bidder mechanism could prove detrimental to development when oil money comes, especially when there is not much addressing contractor work performance.

Raymond did note however that the Act speaks to barring contractors from public works, and pointed out that in TT, contractors could be barred for as much as 10 years for poor, shabby work.

The anti-corruption activist said state agencies involved in procurement should have a specific person handling these matters who should be held accountable.

“We have to make this a question of personal responsibility,” Raymond recommended, noting that the upcoming TT procurement legislation deals with fines and custodial penalties for persons who fail to uphold the office for which they would have been responsible.

It is for this reason, he said, the legislation is seeing a huge fight because government and other high officials are subject to it.

There is a suspicion that large sums of money are siphoned off during procurement.

This issue has plagued other oil-producing nations which use large portions of their oil money for infrastructural construction. Raymond said it was found in TT’s oil sector that two out of every three dollars was stolen or wasted.

He recalled too that in 2012/2013, work at the Piarco Airport had been budgeted for some $1.6B and investigations later showed that at least $1B of that money was siphoned off, leading to officials being charged and prosecuted.

He also noted that in these instances, hardly a corrupt act in public office is usually done between two persons, noting that research has shown that just under 10 people usually know what is happening.

As such, he said, provision must be made for persons who report corrupt acts.

Guyana’s State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) and Procurement Act give some amount of protection to whistleblowers.