Cabinet should not acquire even a pencil
AMERICAN Chamber of Commerce (Amcham TT) CEO Nirad Tewarie has called for electronic tendering and says Cabinet should not be involved in procurement.
He was speaking at a panel discussion for the TT Transparency Institute Launch of the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index held yesterday at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Mt Hope. “I do not think the Cabinet has any basis for being involved in procurement whatsoever for anything whether it be a ship or a pencil. And I think we need to move away from that.” He was likely referring to the Cabinet committee set up for the acquisition of vessels for the seabridge in his mention of a “ship.” Tewarie at the panel discussion said to change corruption in TT and across the democratic world the way institutions are designed has to be changed to be responsive to the needs of people. “We have a magic in TT that is so special that if we capture in one electoral cycle we could make huge strides and in two we could change the country.”
He said TT was a magical place, has a lot “going for us” and he has a lot of hope for this society. “But we have to act. We have to hold people to account.”
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Image: The Blue Diamond Gallery