| …Former President Bharrat Jagdeo wanted role preserved – AFC The 2003 Cabinet had complained that it was uncomfortable with persons lobbying for contracts and as such, unanimously voted to have its role removed from the process and having it entrusted to the Public Procurement Commission.This is according to Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, who at the time of the passage of the 2003 Procurement Act had been a Member of Parliament on the Government benches.AFC Leader Khemraj RamjattanRamjattan yesterday, at a party press engagement held at the Sidewalk Café, told members of the media that almost all of the then Cabinet Members,Chris Chelios Jersey, “were saying that they were being lobbied by people to get contracts and that they don’t like the idea that they have to deal with it at Cabinet level. They would prefer an independent body to do it.”The AFC Leader said that it is for this reason that while Parliament was being held at the Ocean View Convention Centre, at the time it was unanimously approved that with the Public Procurement Commission there would be a phasing out of Cabinet in matters of procurement.“To come now at this late stage and claim that because of socioeconomic determination that Cabinet must have a hand is total rubbish…All of those issued were deliberated at Freedom House and Parliament.”Ramjattan believes that it is deception on the part of the government to now come and say that “they never intended that way…that they want control of a process.”The AFC Leader contended that across the Caribbean, Europe and even in the United States of America, the role of the Executive in the award of contracts has been removed.He said that where the Executive will come into play is at the stage of the execution of the Contract in that it will ensure that they are implementing and executed to the required specifications.Ramjattan said that as much as there are some good arguments being proffered in relation to the role of Cabinet in the award process, “we are not impressed…We will ask that the Public Procurement Commission be the body, rather than Cabinet.”The AFC Leader said that among the voices in support of the role of Cabinet being removed from that process during the 2003 deliberations included the then Finance Minister Sasenarine Kowlessar, the Minister with then responsibility for Housing and Water Shaik Baksh,Cheap Jerseys Tag, as well as then Agriculture Minister Reepu Daman Persaud.“Let them come and deny it now…We would not have passed that Act had it not been them (Cabinet) consenting to it,” said Ramjattan.The AFC Leader was emphatic that the only person in opposition to not having the Cabinet’s role preserved was the then President,Cheap Jerseys League, Bharrat Jagdeo.Ramjattan said that Jagdeo was vehemently against the move to the point that he had told the legal draftsman, “that he would not like it to be done that way.”Ramjattan recalled that the then Speaker of the National Assembly,Cheap Jerseys, Ralph Ramkarran,Wholesale Jerseys China, had said if the legal draftsman would not do it, then him (Ramkarran), along then Attorney General Doodnauth Singh and the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Finance Spokesperson Winston Murray would.Alliance for Change Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo who was also at the time of the passage of the Procurement Act a member of the ruling party, yesterday in his remarks told media operatives that even prior to the 2003 deliberations, “there was always a jitter in relation to contract and the award of contract.”He reminded that the PPP went on the platform of being a “lean and clean government.”Contracts and procurement had always been like ‘flies being attracted to sugar,China Jerseys Authentic,’ and he explained that Cabinet’s role in the awarding and policing of contract had always been a bone of contention.He asked why Guyana would want to be the only country to want to have its Cabinet involved in the procurement process as well as the policing of the contracts issued. |
