THE five persons who functioned as commissioners of the now expired Public Procurement Commission (PPC) are expected to receive a long overdue gratuity payout totalling GY$48 million, according to disclosures made during Monday’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The monies are being paid two years after the life of the commission ended, and will cover three years’ worth of payments to Carol Corbin, who served as Chairperson of the Commission; her deputy, and former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Labour Minister, Dr Nanda Gopaul, as well as commissioners Emily Dodson, Ivor Burnette English and Sukrishnalall Pasha, who is currently the Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

Gratuity, which accounts for approximately 22 per cent of a person’s salary, is paid every six months. In this case, the commissioners are being paid for their three years of service. More specifically, for the years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, and 2018 to 2019.

Previous media reports show that Corbin’s salary as chairperson was approximately $1.3 million plus the cost of security, while Dr Gopaul as deputy was receiving a salary of approximately $1.1 million, plus telephone allowances. The other commissioners were earning at least $900,000 per month.

It was noted that the commissioners were also entitled to duty-free concessions, entertainment allowances and a telephone allowance of about $10,000 each. The Guyana Chronicle was reliably informed that while the salaries and allowances were discussed, authorities failed to factor in the added cost of gratuities.

Additionally, although the Procurement Commission was sworn in by then President David Granger in 2016, it was not functioning in 2017. At that time, Cabinet Secretary and Minister of State Joseph Harmon had said that the non-functioning of the PPC was largely due to the lack of staff.

Nonetheless, it was during the latter part of 2021 that the PAC agreed to have gratuities to the PPC members be paid. When the matter came up for discussion on Monday, PAC Chairman Jermaine Figueira expressed disappointment that monies were not paid to the former commissioners in time for the Christmas holiday season.

Asked whether the monies were available to make the payments, Finance Secretary Pasha responded in the positive, saying that all he needs is a written correspondence from the PAC, indicating that the payments were approved. Those payments are expected to be paid within the coming weeks.

NO PROCUREMENT COMMISSION
But, in the meantime, the country remains without an active Public Procurement Commission. As a matter of fact, as she joined the meeting virtually, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, lamented the fact that the former PPC “died in October 2019.”

The Procurement Commission is a critical body which is constitutionally responsible for oversight of the public procurement of all goods and services, along with the monitoring of infrastructural works to ensure that they conform to the relevant laws and guidelines.

As it is, the establishment of a new PPC relies on finalisation of the list of commissioners as agreed by both the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government and the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change.

The process to constitute the PPC requires two thirds majority agreement of the three candidates proposed by the government and the two proposed by the parliamentary opposition.

PAC government member, Dharamkumar Seeraj, has insisted that the government is ready to proceed with the process. “Government has names,” Seeraj insisted.

Meanwhile, Minister Teixeira raised the question of whether the change in leadership of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) would mean changes in the opposition’s pick of the eight shortlisted candidates, since the PNC/R accounts for the majority of the APNU+AFC opposition.

It must be noted that while Aubrey Norton now heads the PNC/R, the seat of the Leader of the Opposition is occupied by Joseph Harmon, who has insisted that he will not be stepping down. The PAC chairman was quick to cast aside Teixeira’s question, asking that she not “concern herself” with those matters.

Figueira also assured the PAC that there has been “no change in the status quo” and that the opposition is also ready for establishment of the new PPC.

Although both sides have acknowledged the importance of the commission, neither has stated definitively when the final names will be presented to the PAC.

Once the PPC members were sworn in by President David Granger, they would function for a period of three years, after which the life of the commission will end, and the process to constitute a new commission will once more be undertaken from the start.