THE attention of the Ministry of Finance has been drawn to yet another pronouncement by former Minister of Finance Mr Winston Jordan (Letter in Stabroek News of November 25,2021 headlined, “Finance Ministry removed critical control measure and this has opened door to procurement confusion and corruption”), as he persists in continuously peddling unmitigated ignorance on various financial matters.

The ministry therefore has to continue to clear the air on these matters as it is becoming more obvious that some media, instead of seeking out the required response from the relevant authority to various ‘wild’ and what might appear to them to be sensational and ‘revealing’ accusations on matters of public concern made by Mr. Jordan, have instead begun to adopt a pattern of neglect of fairness prior to publishing. Then, what’s worse, is when the relevant authority provides the required response to the sensationalism, it is not given the equal prominence as the unsubstantiated accusation made.

As a result, Mr. Jordan gets the leeway to create more accusations and to continue to try to give the impression that he is only a ‘professional’ and not a politician and makes attempts at each instance to convince himself as well as the public over and over of this, when ironically, based on his unusual persistence and eagerness to appear in the spotlight despite no longer holding the honourable portfolio of being at the helm of this ministry, proves otherwise.

His latest sojourn into seeking to find some form of relevance after having publicly been deemed the most unimpressive of all Finance Ministers (as quoted by Columnist Freddie Kissoon in the Kaieteur News of August 25, 2021: “It is my belief that Mr Jordan was the least impressive of all of the finance ministers since the first self-government administration at the beginning of the 1950 [sic].” And, “Mr. Jordan was the second mistake for the choice of Finance Minister”) has once again exposed his complete lack of understanding of the role and functions of the Director, Project Cycle Management Division and that of Chairman, National Procurement and Tender Administration Board.

Obviously, Winston Jordan as minister during his tenure “floated” throughout his entire term at the Ministry of Finance without grasping the concept of “conflict of interest” in so far as it relates to the work of the Project Cycle Management Division (PCMD) and the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), both institutions being part and parcel of the Ministry of Finance from time immemorial.

To elucidate, the PCMD is responsible for exercising monitoring oversight of implementation of the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) and to report on the PSIP’s performance to the sectoral ministers, permanent secretaries and ultimately (through the Minister of Finance) to Cabinet. This has been the exact function of the PCMD when Mr. Winston Jordan served as minister and much longer before.

The NPTAB, on the other hand, is responsible for awarding contracts, the value of which is above G$15 million. The process involves appointment of three-person independent evaluation committees, whose recommendations are considered by the NPTAB and upon the acceptance of those recommendations, submit the award for Cabinet’s No-Objection.

These are two mutually exclusive functions independent of each other. Mr. Jordan must have been sleepwalking through his time as minister if he cannot see and understand the clear distinction of functions of the two offices. Neither office is responsible for the engineering design of projects, including the preparation of bills of quantities and the pricing of those bills, nor do they tender for works, nor exercise supervision of those works.

It therefore begs the question as to wherein lies the conflict of interest claimed by Mr Jordan? NPTAB makes the award and the PCMD exercises monitoring oversight to ensure that projects are implemented based on time and cost and in accordance with terms of the contract. The PCMD does not implement the projects.

Next, Mr. Jordan referred to a letter dated September 24th, 2020. He has, as expected, not contextualised the scope and intent of the letter. Firstly, the letter re-affirmed that government has instituted standard bidding documents. As long as the procuring entities utilise, expressly, that standard bidding document, there is no need for the entity to send those documents to NPTAB for clearance. What then, would be the purpose of NPTAB “clearing” its own standard bidding document?

However, should the procuring entity require any amendment(s) to that standard bidding document, it is required to secure the express written approval of the NPTAB. “An advisory system is, however, available for Heads of Budget Agencies (HoBAs) who require help in large, specialised or complex procurement.” Mr. Jordan has selectively forgotten to quote that clause in the said letter, no doubt out of malicious intent, and to smear hard- working public officers – or could it be just plain wickedness and an abominable pre-disposition to spew deceit?

It may be interesting however to inform the public of a clear conflict of interest situation that existed under Mr. Jordan’s sojourn as minister: permanent secretaries and regional executive officers functioned as both Chairmen of their respective tender boards and Chairmen of their evaluation committees. That was the situation when M. Jordan was minister.

He saw no conflict of interest then and persisted with that incestuous relationship throughout his term as minister. If he could not see conflict of interest in that situation, how is it he sees conflict of interest in two functions that are clearly independent and separate, but complementary.

Mr. Jordan must be reminded that it is the current NPTAB that changed the situation and implemented the procedure where the functions were separated and in so doing the “critical checks and balances” were established which allow for fair and equitable treatment, promote integrity, transparency and public confidence. This most duplicitous situation was discontinued.

It is this current Board of NPTAB that instituted – for the first time ever in the history of Guyana- real-time virtual opening of tenders, where every bidder who wishes to, can sit in their office or at home and witness the physical opening of tenders, hear the announcement of the opening of bids and make enquiries ( via the chat box) during the opening of tenders, where the record of the opening of tenders are posted online within 24 hours, where the award of tenders are posted online after the issuing of Cabinet’s no-objection and where tender notices of public procurement are announced on the NPTAB website.

Lastly, Mr. Jordan has also falsely stated that “each HoBA can now develop their own set of evaluation criteria for projects under their control … which not only creates confusion but lays the basis for corruption.” This shows that Mr Jordan is obviously stuck in the past and is recollecting the situation that existed under his watch. This assertion is nothing further from the truth.

His fluctuating responses on his knowledge of the ExxonMobil signing bonus can be recalled. The current standard bidding document copiously details the numerous criteria that constitutes the “evaluation criteria” which underpin the assessment of contracts. It is clear as day and for all to see and therefore the lies can be exposed.

Ministry of Finance