…says he was told since 2017 not to bid anymore

GODFREY Yearwood, the husband of Minister within the Ministry of Communities with responsibility for housing, Valerie Adams-Yearwood, has only one contract remaining with the agency for the construction of two flat houses, and is expected to complete and hand over the houses in the next two weeks.

During an interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Friday, Minister Yearwood said that completion of the outstanding works would end her husband’s business with the agency, since she asked him, since 2017, after they were married, not to bid on any more contracts under the CH&PA.

Through his business, Yearwood Contractors and Consultancy Services, Yearwood was awarded four contracts by the CH&PA; one to rehabilitate an office building in Linden, and three contracts under the “Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond Project”, all under the CH&PA pre-qualified contractor procurement systems. Under the Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond Project, he built five out of the almost 200 homes constructed, and was among over 20 contractors who did work on the project.

The CH&PA has two systems for the awarding of contracts. For contracts valued $20M and under, the organisation invites bids from a pool of prequalified contractors, who have to apply annually in December to qualify for the coming year. All contracts over $20M are handled by the National Tender and Procurement Administration Board (NTPAB).

CH&PA Director of Projects, Omar Narine, explained that Yearwood first came on board as a CH&PA pre-qualified contractor after he was among a list of suggested contractors from the Regional Democratic Council, when the agency advertised for the rehabilitation of the office building.

He was subsequently awarded that contract. Controversy has been building over the conflict of interest arising from Yearwood being awarded contracts from the CH&PA, when his wife is the minister of the agency. The issue came to light after a sub-contractor of the company complained to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, about a lack of payment by Yearwood’s company.

However, the timeline of the awarding of the contract remains an issue, as to whether the contracts were awarded before or after the minister and Yearwood got married in August 2017. The Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond” project was officially launched in April 2017; however, construction of the homes began prior to that.

Yearwood’s first contract under “Housing Solutions 2017 & Beyond” and the company’s second contract with CH&PA, for the construction of one out of 60 duplexes, has already been completed. The third contract was for the construction of two of the 60 elevated units that were built. Yearwood was one of over 20 contractors who were awarded to work on these houses. That contract is also settled. The fourth contract was for the construction of two out of 64 flat units constructed. This contract is still on-going, and for which the houses are to be completed in a few weeks. Yearwood did not bid for any contracts in 2018, or 2019.