At least one name on the list of five nominees for the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) that the two political sides of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had come up with, has gone out the window following discussions within the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).
Initially, former Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Chairman Rawle Lucas had been counted among the five nominees that a subcommittee consisting of representatives of the APNU/AFC and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) sides of the PAC had agreed on earlier in the month.
Since then, however, discussions within APNU/AFC have resulted in the economist’s name being recalled and Diana Rajkumar replacing him on the PPC shortlist. Speaking to this publication, PAC Chairman Jermaine Figueira explained that a motion will now have to be brought at the committee’s next sitting so the process can move forward.
“On Monday a motion will be brought to (approve) those nominees at the PAC and then the process goes to Parliament for a vote of the 2/3,” Figueira explained, also expressing optimism that from henceforth the process would advance smoothly.
Rajkumar is an AFC Executive member and under the APNU/AFC Government, she was the personal assistant to former Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan.
Rajkumar now joins Attorney-at Law Pauline Chase; Financial Analyst Joel Bhagwandin; former Chairman of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) Berkley Wickham and Rajnarine Singh, on the PPC shortlist.
Pauline Chase currently serves as President of the Guyana Bar Association (GBA), while Bhagwandin is the former director of the Private Sector Commission (PSC). Up until 2021, Wickham served as the Chairman of NPTAB.
Previously, the PPC had as its members Chairperson Carol Corbin, Ivor English, Nanda Gopaul, Sukrishnalall Pasha and Emily Dodson. While the life of the commission ended in 2019, Corbin was retained until 2020.
Among the PPC’s key functions are, according to the Procurement Act, to “Monitor and review the functioning of all procurement systems to ensure that they are in accordance with law and such policy guidelines as may be determined by the National Assembly; promote awareness of the rules, procedures and special requirements of the procurement process among suppliers, constructors and public bodies; safeguard the national interest in public procurement matters, having due regard to any international obligations; monitor the performance of procurement bodes with respect to adherence to regulations and efficiency in procuring goods and services and execution of works; approve of procedures for public procurement, disseminate rules and procedures for public procurement; and recommend modifications thereto to the public procurement entities.”
The PPC has in the past intervened in contracts when there was a discrepancy with the procurement of the contractor. One of the most famous cases of this was the sole-sourced consultant for the design and feasibility study of the new Demerara River Bridge.
The Procurement Commission conducted a probe into the award of the feasibility study and design contract and had flagged the then Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson for requesting from Cabinet that the $148 million contract be sole-sourced. This subsequently resulted in them calling in the Auditor General.
