The PNCR has blamed the government’s refusal to make fundamental changes to the public procurement system as the reason for its members’ walkout from the National Assembly following the Second Reading of Procurement Bill 2003 on Thursday. The bill repealed a similar bill passed in May 2002 which the World Bank described as deficient as it was not based on public consultations and among other things allowed for Cabinet intervention in the approval process. It also further centralised the process to the Board of the National Procurement and Tender Administration which replaces the Central Tender Board while failing to mention the role of the Public Procurement Commission.
But Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Reepu Daman Persaud called the PNCR’s walkout unfortunate as the bill had been thoroughly debated with both sides fully expressing their views. He added that the Parliamentary Opposition had submitted no amendments to the bill and according to the Minister of Finance, the amendments accepted by the government had been proposed by a member of one of the opposition parties with whom he had consulted.
Persaud said the bill was subject to a timeframe about which the parliamentary opposition was not unaware and reiterated the government’s willingness to consult as had happened to the Pharmacy Practioners Bill which was referred to a Special Select Committee.
A PNCR statement said the government’s refusal breached the spirit of the constitutional reform process, the May 6 communique, and the decision of the management committee, that all complex and/or controversial bills would be referred to a Special Select Committee of the National Assembly.
The PNCR and the smaller opposition parties, GAP/WPA and ROAR, had all called for the bill to be referred to a special select committee during the debate. GAP/WPA parliamentarian Sheila Holder also walked out after the second reading but ROAR’s leader Ravi Dev and the other GAP/WPA parliamentarian, Shirley Melville stayed in their seats.
At the Third Reading of the Bill during which the PNCR MPs and Holder were absent the Government amended the clause to remove the Cabinet from the approval process of contracts once the PPC is in place. And they amended the clause dealing with the appointment of members to the seven-member Board of the National Procurement and Tender Administration to provide for consultation by the Finance Minister with their representative organisations when appointing the members from the private sector. The amendment also provides for not more than five members to be appointed from the public sector and not more than three from the private sector to the Board of the National Tender Administration. The original clause had provided for the Minister to appoint five members from the public sector and two members from the private sector.
The statement said because of the glaring deficiencies in the government’s proposal for reforming the procurement system as reflected in the Procurement Bill 2003, the Parliamentary Opposition was compelled to propose that it should be sent to a special select committee.
“The Government justified its refusal by claiming that they had to meet an International Financial Institution imposed deadline of June 30 2003. Therefore, the Government ignored all of the very compelling arguments for improving the Public Procurement Bill to ensure that the Public Procurement System in Guyana meets internationally accepted conditions of transparency, equity and fairness while, at the same time, ensuring that the procurement of goods, services and the execution of public works are undertaken in a competitive and cost effective manner.”
The party added that, “The various presentations by the PPP/C’s Ministers of Government during the debate... clearly signals to the nation their intention to perpetuate the use of the Public Procurement process as the mechanism for fuelling the now endemic corruption and the glaring discriminatory practices.”
The PNCR has since written the Country Representative of the World Bank, Lucia Hanmer to inform her of the parliamentary opposition’s position and is seeking a meeting with her.