Prime Minister
Moses Nagamootoo

– former AG wants full disclosure

The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government seems to have again found itself on the wrong side of accountability and transparency, as it is now being accused of handing out a multimillion-dollar auto repair contract to a close friend and financier of the coalition’s election campaign.

Former Attorney General under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration Anil Nandlall told a news conference on Wednesday that he was in receipt of credible information that the Government had handpicked the contractor to retrofit a number of State-owned vehicles at premium prices.

Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall

“There is a close friend of the Administration and a financier of the election campaign who owns an auto accessory body shop and this person, this business, has been given a number of contracts, none of which seems to have been advertised to retrofit a number of SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles) of the Forestry Commission and the Geology and Mines Commission. One vehicle has thus far been retrofitted I am told to be used by a Minister at a cost of $11 million, now that is the cost of a new vehicle or several new vehicles, depending on the type of vehicle that they want to source,” Nandlall said.

The Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) is of the view the Government was going this route after its decision earlier this year to purchase a $22 million SUV for Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo was condemned by Guyanese, including many of the coalition’s supporters.

“So now to avoid spending money on the acquisition of new vehicles, we are told that the vehicles that they have are now being retrofitted,” Nandlall said.

Nandlall bemoaned the fact that this contract, which will cost the public purse millions, was awarded without any openness.

“These things are happening and we don’t know what’s the nature of the transaction. If one vehicle is $11 million, this is a multimillion-dollar project. Did they receive quotes from other persons? Did they go out to public tender? That is what transparency is about. That is what the procurement act mandates,” Nandlall asserted.

Efforts to contact Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman and Minister of Social Cohesion Amna Ally all proved futile, as their phones went unanswered.

The APNU/AFC while in Opposition had chastised the then PPP/Civic Administration on claims that it was not operating in an accountable and transparent manner and vowed that should it gain political power, things would be done differently.

However, many believe that the Government is now involved in worse practices than what it had accused the PPP/C of doing, as there is a lack of disclosure on many contracts and programmes involving billions of dollars.

Among the examples of unaccountability and lack of transparency cited by some critics is the Government’s glaring silence on the source and amount of monies used to finance the multimillion-dollar inauguration of President David Granger and his Cabinet on May 16.

Critics also pointed to Government’s failure to follow any public tendering process for the hiring of forensic auditors for the ongoing forensic audits, rather than the hand-picking of Christopher Ram and Anand Goolsarran, two staunch supporters of the coalition, as well as the coalition’s refusal to disclose the source of its funding for the extravagant 2015 General and Regional Election campaign.

Further, the Administration has been under the microscope as questions of corruption and lack of transparency were raised over the multimillion-dollar city clean-up activities, for which the contractors, contract sums as well as scope of works were never revealed.

The most recent of lack of transparency accusations engulfing the Government is that of the construction of the Specialty Hospital for which the Government selected a disqualified contractor in Fedders Lloyd to complete the project, despite the Public Procurement Act stipulating there must be a retendering process.

Fedders Lloyd is a former client of Vice President Khemraj Ramjattan.