Ramotar condoning an illegality with

drug purchased from Ramroop –

Harmon

The Public Procurement Commission is the answer to the dilemma that Guyana finds itself in. Without it one man can be handed 75 per cent of the contracts for drugs and further be pre-qualified for years at a time.
This is according to Executive Member of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Joseph Harmon, who said that while former President Bharrat Jagdeo, would have put the system in place the current Head of State, Donald Ramotar, is condoning that level of illegality.

APNU Joseph Harmon

Harmon insists that it has to be unlawful for one person to be handed contracts for such long periods without any competitive bidding.
“When you say to one man I am going to give you a contract for three or five years what are you doing to the rest of the market there?”
Harmon suggested that Government through this practice has locked itself into a position where Head of the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation, Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, can now spike the price of the drugs that he sells, “which he did.”
He said that under this arrangement Ramroop can deliver drugs late, or close to expiry with no recourse and would still seek to challenge the Auditor General.
Harmon said that the arrangement with Ramroop has to be revised and “this is why we have to put in place a Public Procurement Commission.”
According to Harmon, the President and his Cabinet have to act constitutionally “because this country will go nowhere when the supreme law of the land can be dealt with in a manner with which they are”.
He said that offices such as that of the Ombudsman, an effective Integrity Commission and the Public Procurement Commission are not matters for political negotiations or bartering.
“The Constitution makes provision for a Public Procurement Commission and therefore the opposition parties need not have to beg for it or barter for it, it is the law.”
Harmon accused Ramotar of being in violation of his oath of office because he swore to uphold the constitution which makes provision for those bodies.
He said that were there a proper procurement commission in place then the nation would not be experiencing the turmoil it finds itself in and pointed to the US$30M recycling plant.
“The whole episode is ridiculous…We have people sitting at the Cabinet who don’t know a thing about what is happening.”
He suggested that for a ‘no objection’ to be given to this project, then one can imagine the level of scrutiny and due diligence that would have engaged projects such as the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project, the Expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the Specialty Hospital among others.
“This Cabinet is displaying a certain level of incompetence; it seems incapable of dealing with the most rudimentary of things…negotiation is terrible.”
Harmon said that on many occasions what in fact happens is that Winston Brassington would be tasked with putting together a number of deals and once he has signed off they are approved.
This, he said, leaves a situation where projects are negotiated without the input of lawyers or accountants and other professionals “to see if this is in the best interest of Guyana…If we have a proper Procurement Commission a number of these things would not be there.”
He said, “If we had a proper Integrity Commission with the authority to investigate the statements when they get it a lot of these Ministers who are living large from the wealth they are accumulating would have to explain it.”
Asked about the statement by Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, that the government had the support of the APNU for the passage of an amendment to preserve the ‘no objection’ status for Cabinet in the Procurement laws, Harmon denied this.
“Luncheon could say anything he wants; we never pledged any support…We have no arrangement with Dr Luncheon for the passage of this legislation.”
Harmon insists that the Constitution requires certain bodies be put in place. “What we are saying and what we will continue to say let them put it in place and the President must do it.”
He was adamant also that the Integrity Commission must be properly staffed and charged with the ability to investigate and be able to report back to the National Assembly.
Harmon suggested that “these Ministers got children, husbands and wives and what they are doing is putting things in their names so you have to draw a circle around all of these public officials.”
The APNU Executive said that in the United States some years ago he benefitted from a programme in law enforcement and drug seizures. He said that in the US there is law called the “doctrines of relations back”.
He explained that in the USA, if a person is found with any large quantity of drugs and convicted then a circle is created around that person. There is a revert to ten years prior where any and all of their connections including family members, would have to explain their wealth.
He said that when this recommendation was put to government the reply was, “Don’t worry with this.”
According to Harmon, “too much of the wealth of this country has been frittered away on friends and family while the people of this country continue to be in a level of poverty.”