Guyana
The objectionable narrative from Stabroek News, via its editorial headlined ‘Regional anti-corruption conference’ on April 23, 2023, serve the single purpose of feeding into the narrative of naysayers in Guyana – the usual suspects whose agenda remains unchanged and visible, conveniently enough, only when the PPP/C Administration is in Office. The assertion by Stabroek New that: “All that Minister Teixeira likely succeeded in doing at the Conference, was persuade the other regional participants that the government here was not fully committed to addressing corruption,” is imprudent.
The facts of the matter of corruption are as follows:
FACT 1: At no time was an insinuation made that corruption is not a problem; rather the objection is that non-empirical, non-scientific, data cannot be the standard by which such a serious issue is measured by Transparency International and the World Justice Project.
For example, the World Justice Project explains that its methodology employs the use of a survey “that highlight perceptions and experiences” and features “perception-based questions” and “experience-based questions” in its questionnaire.
Transparency International’s approach is the same, since it “aggregates data from a number of different sources that provide perceptions among business people and country experts” in a country. Minister Teixeira questioned if this unknown minute number of persons was sufficient to castigate an entire country?
Stabroek News’ defence of the work of Transparency International cannot detract from the fact that by its own admission TI and Inter-national Financial Institutions accept that the CPI I is based on non-empirical, non-scientific, data. This cannot be an acceptable basis to paint countries in the Global South in a negative light.
This fact is neither new nor unheard of; according to a Centre for Global Development 2013 blog post, “the CPI embeds a powerful and misleading elite bias in popular perceptions of corruption, potentially contributing to a vicious cycle and at the same time incentivizing inappropriate policy responses. The index corrupts perceptions to the extent that it’s hard to see a justification for its continuing publication.”
Stabroek News does not seem to find it highly coincidental that the Global South made up mainly of developing countries is also made up of people of colour.
Consequently, the opinion expressed in the Editorial, “…was she really trying to suggest that in terms of corruption Guyana, for example, equated to mature Scandinavian democracies” can only be described as obtuse.
In fact, the Minister re-affirmed the Government’s commitment to prevent, detect, investigate and enforce the constitutional and statutory framework against corruption and to build resilient institutions.
FACT 2: Efforts are being made to strengthen Guyana’s anti-corruption framework – a fact that the perceptions-based reporting ignore.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, last year, published guided a 26-page document, titled ‘Cooperative Republic of Guyana: Anti-Corruption Frame-work – Fact Sheet and Detailed Framework 2022’, which might prove instructive for some who are intent on conveying the impression that nothing is being done to address the corruption challenge.
At an international level, Guyana’s reporting is done under two major conventions. Firstly, the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACAC) under the Organisation of American
States (OAS) was the first multilateral anti-corruption treaty instrument negotiated in the world. The Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) of the OAS is the Follow-Up Mechanism for the implementation of the IACAC. Secondly, the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on October 31, 2003. The UNCAC entered into force on the December 14, 2005. Guyana ratified both conventions on December 11, 2000, and April 16, 2008 respectively.
Guyana has reported to both bodies in keeping with their treaty obligations; Guyana is now in its 6th cycle review of the IACAC and the 2nd assessment at the UNCAC.
At the national level, a National Coordinating Committee (NCC) on Anti-Corruption with regard to Guyana’s treaty obligations which involves a cross-section of government agencies was established. This committee works on not only ensuring that Guyana is compliant with its reporting obligations, but also on capacity building and maximizing the synergies that exist among agencies. The NCC meets on a bi-monthly basis and 16 agencies are currently represented on the Committee.
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Guyana
Three companies submitted bids to supply a number of emergency drugs to the Ministry of Health and sources close to the process say that the New GPC has been awarded the contract with a bid pegged at $171 million.
With insulin for over 150 children living with Type 1 diabetes currently running low and a larger order of pharmaceuticals not yet tendered for, the Ministry of Health had last month issued an emergency call for the supply of a number of drugs.
Insulin is the major item on the list of needs. Some 39,224 vials of Insulin Lente (zinc) in 100IU/ML or 10ml amounts are needed along with 10628 vials of the 70/30 insulin in 10ml amounts, the tender document for the supply of 43 drugs states.
Also needed is the malaria drug, Artemether, in three different doses.
The tenders were opened at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board on April 18th and the winners notified shortly after.
Below is a table which shows the three companies that bid and the respective amounts.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony had told the Stabroek News that the pharmaceuticals are being sought to “bridge the gap” for especially children, until the larger tenders are advertised and distributed.
“We have 152 children who require insulin Type 1 without which they have problems and risk of death. Those children we are low (on supplies) and we are doing this emergency order for that. We have a bigger order to bridge this gap, but we don’t want to run out that is why we went to tender for the emergency supplies,” he said.
“This is precautionary, until the larger order…,” he added, while explaining that the ministry does not want to risk not having adequate amounts of medication.
The New GPC Inc would now have to deliver the drugs immediately or within 30 days of the commencement order.
The list of pharmaceuticals includes: carvedilol, ephedrine tablets, lantanprost eye drops, levothyroxine, novalgin, oxybutynin, amoxicillin injections, rifampicin, propofol injections and diclofenac eye drops, among other drugs.
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Bahamas
NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the contractor for the new corrections and related facilities is Walker’s Industries –– though the bidding process for the project remains unclear.
Mr Munroe recently revealed that construction plans for the Bahamas Department of Corrections have expanded, moving from just a $40m high-medium security facility to a $90m “correctional institution, administrative, housing and medical facility”.
Free National Movement Shadow Minister for Finance Kwasi Thompson said over the weekend that the FNM does not recall the government putting the initial $40m project to public tender.
“We have not gotten any indication that this massively rescoped $100m project will be subject to any kind of bidding process,” he said. “It is against the law under the Public Procurement Act of 2021 or the Public Procurement Act of 2023 for work of this size and scope not to be put out to an open bidding process with submissions viewed by the Tenders Board established in the law.
“What was the bidding process for the original contract? Who was awarded the contract? Will the government just hand an additional $50m to the same vendor without a competitive vendor process?”
Yesterday, Mr Munroe said Walker’s Industries began doing work related to the corrections facility under previous administrations.
He said the government would provide only $9m upfront for the contractor to construct the facilities.
“We are not paying them upfront to construct this,” he said. “We’re not even paying them as the construction proceeds. We’re giving them a one-time payment and they have to pay for everything else up to conclusion. I’ve been advised that they have resolved their financing and so, they should be in a position to proceed.”
“The government isn’t paying $90m for this to be built. The government on the current proposition is paying $9m and then they will have to build this to completion.”
He said the balance would be paid over time.
He could not give a date when construction would begin.
He said a clinic would be on the campus to prevent inmates from being transported to the hospital for treatment.
The Corrections Department is working with the American Correctional Association (ACA) to improve psychiatric care in the facility.
Dr Elizabeth Gondles, senior director of professional development of the ACA, said yesterday that the ACA has started involving 32 staff members in learning how to handle mentally ill inmates.
She said this type of training reduces violence, suicides, and self-harm and provides inmates with a healthier environment.
“This is why we’re training the first 32 in your country on these techniques (and) on these issues,” she said. “Hopefully, this will be the beginning of you seeing a difference. And in the places that we have done it in the United States, we have seen reductions of suicide, less violent facilities.”
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Guyana
On Thursday, the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) met with the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), at the commission’s Secretariat, to discuss matters concerning the public procurement process, functions and roles of the respective bodies.
This is according to a release on Friday from the PPC. The PPC has come in for criticism for not appearing to discharge vital functions since it was constituted in July last year.
The PPC release said that the discussions centred around the functioning of the NPTAB as it relates to:
• Adherence to the Procurement Act, Cap. 75:03,
• Constraints and difficulties experienced,
• Pool of Evaluators,
• Publication of tenders and contract awards, and
• Thresholds.
Execution of S. 17(2) of the Procurement Act, Cap. 73:05 in the absence of the PPC.
Debarment and other matters were also discussed.
The release said that the meeting was attended by the full complement of the PPC and NPTAB: Pauline Chase, Chairperson of the PPC; Berkley Wickham, Deputy Chairperson and Commissioners Dianna Rajcumar, Rajnarine Singh and Joel Bhagwandin together with Michael Singh, Chief Executive Officer.
The NPTAB was represented at the meeting by Dr Tarachand Balgobin, Chairperson and Board Members, Bernard Lord, Desmond Mohamed, Omar Narine, Steve Ninvalle, Mark Conway and Gloria Beharry together with Arvind Parag, Chief Executive Officer.
As mandated by Art 212AA(1) of the constitution of Guyana and enabled by S.17(2) of the Procurement Act, Cap. 73:05, the release noted that the PPC is required to report annually to the Minister of Finance on the effectiveness of the procurement processes and recommend any amendments to the Act which may be necessary to improve the effectiveness of the procurement process.
“The PPC looks forward to and intends to further engage NPTAB as well as other stakeholders in the execution of its mandate and functions”, the release said.
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Guyana
The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) will host a One-Day Training Seminar for Suppliers and Contractors on Wednesday 31st May, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel, Providence, East Bank Demerara.
The PPC in a release yesterday noted that it is mandated by Article 212AA(1)(b) of the Constitution and as enabled by S.17(2) of the Procurement Act, to organize training seminars among suppliers, contractors and public bodies with the aim of promoting awareness of the rules, procedures and special requirements of the procurement process.
The PPC is encouraging all suppliers and contractors to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more on the public procurement process and the role of the PPC. Presentations will include information on:
● The Procurement Process,
● Tendering Tips and Procedures,
● Complaints Procedure, and,
● Process of Debarment of Suppliers and Contractors.
In addition to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will also present on tendering requirements as it relates to IDB-funded projects.
Suppliers and Contractors are required to register to attend the seminar. Registration opened yesterday and closes on May 24th, 2023.
To register or for more information, interested persons can contact the commission on telephone numbers (592) 226-3729, (592) 231-7306, and (592) 226-2364 or via email at publicprocurement@ ppc.org.gy
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