{"id":24367,"date":"2022-09-29T22:48:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T03:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=24367"},"modified":"2022-09-29T12:08:51","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T17:08:51","slug":"why-the-cloak-of-secrecy-over-govt-to-govt-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/why-the-cloak-of-secrecy-over-govt-to-govt-contracts\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the cloak of secrecy over govt-\u00adto-govt contracts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trinidad and Tobago<\/p>\n

In a recent newspaper article, Afra Raymond raised a number of issues, some of them constitutional, on what, to me, is the increasingly strange case of public procurement legislation.<\/p>\n

He wondered about the delay in finalising the legislation, seeing that \u201call the legal and necessary steps have been taken\u201d.<\/p>\n

I, too, wonder\u2014after all, the law was passed in the People\u2019s Partnership administration in 2015, seven years ago. I am by no means as familiar with the legislation as is Mr Raymond, but I recall an amendment to the original which, as a citizen, I consider totally unacceptable.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

The amendment\u2014whatever the hymns to transparency and accountability we always hear lustily sung by political choirs\u2014excludes government-\u00adto-government contracts from scrutiny by the Procurement Regulator\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Such contracts and agreements have, in the past, caused this country no end of trouble and financial loss. If a cloak of secrecy is again to be thrown over them, while taxpayers\u2019 money is being spent on them, I may, as a citizen, have to examine my options.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I strongly recommend to the Government a close reading of the March 1982 report by the late Lennox Ballah on government-to-government arrangements.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Mr Raymond also wonders why our Attorney General invited our Chief Justice \u201cto comment on the implementation of the new law\u201d. He goes on: \u201cThat is a most unusual request since it runs the risk of eliciting a comment from the Judiciary on matters which are likely to come to that institution for its rulings.\u201d<\/p>\n

I, too, find the AG\u2019s request odd. Would he please be so good as to tell us what really inspired him to make it? Further, is it correct that he has delayed action towards implementation of the law because of the CJ\u2019s views?<\/p>\n

Is this normal separation-of-powers behaviour? Or is there something more in the mortar than the pestle we think we see? Also, when will the AG publish the CJ\u2019s letter (unredacted, of course), as he publicly promised to do?<\/p>\n

more\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

image: Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trinidad and Tobago In a recent newspaper article, Afra Raymond raised a number of issues, some of them constitutional, on what, to me, is the increasingly strange case of public…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":6598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[250],"tags":[110,173,137],"class_list":["post-24367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-contracting","tag-contracts","tag-trinidad-and-tobago"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-6l1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37413,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/raymond-urges-charges-for-procurement-breaches\/","url_meta":{"origin":24367,"position":0},"title":"Raymond urges charges for Procurement breaches","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"November 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Trinidad and Tobago PUBLIC bodies that have breached the laws in the Procurement Act should be charged, past president of the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC) Afra Raymond has said. Raymond made the comment on Monday while speaking at part two of the Caribbean Corporate Governance Institute\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pexels-pixabay-60504-scaled-e1722562889288.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pexels-pixabay-60504-scaled-e1722562889288.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pexels-pixabay-60504-scaled-e1722562889288.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pexels-pixabay-60504-scaled-e1722562889288.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21547,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/fatal-flaw-in-procurement-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":24367,"position":1},"title":"Fatal flaw in procurement law","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"April 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Trinidad and Tobago \u00a0 SOME weeks ago, I penned an article voicing my scepticism regarding the call by one of the most powerful local companies for the Government to sell national assets to private corporations. The concern was grounded principally on the disastrous socio-economic impact of the recommendation on reducing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38122,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/no-accountability-opposition-concerned-over-award-of-govt-contracts\/","url_meta":{"origin":24367,"position":2},"title":"No accountability Opposition concerned over award of Govt contracts","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"January 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"[et_pb_section fb_built=\"1\" _builder_version=\"4.16\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"][et_pb_row _builder_version=\"4.16\" background_size=\"initial\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"][et_pb_column type=\"4_4\" _builder_version=\"4.16\" custom_padding=\"|||\" global_colors_info=\"{}\" custom_padding__hover=\"|||\"][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"4.16\" background_size=\"initial\" background_position=\"top_left\" background_repeat=\"repeat\" global_colors_info=\"{}\"]Trinidad and Tobago Opposition MP Davendranath Tancoo has challenged the Government on its spending, claiming that in its almost ten years in office million-dollar contracts were being awarded to contractors without accountability.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21774,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/young-confident-new-laws-will-improve-trinidad-and-tobagos-corruption-ranking\/","url_meta":{"origin":24367,"position":3},"title":"Young confident new laws will improve Trinidad and Tobago’s corruption ranking","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"April 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Trinidad and Tobago \u00a0 Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young says he is optimistic that Trinidad and Tobago's global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking will improve during the next annual report to reflect the work done by the government in implementing legislation to improve transparency and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30459,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/minority-leader-concerned-about-tha-adherence-to-procurement-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":24367,"position":4},"title":"Minority Leader concerned about THA adherence to procurement law","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"October 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Trinidad and Tobago Tobago Minority Leader Kelvon Morris has revealed plans to write to the Chief Administrator expressing concerns that the procurement laws are not being adhered to by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). In April this year, the Cabinet approved the full proclamation of the remaining sections of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Law-scrabble-tiles-CQF-Avocat-Pexels-e1649276824460.jpeg?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13221,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/pm-wants-value-for-money-on-all-state-contracts\/","url_meta":{"origin":24367,"position":5},"title":"PM wants value for money on all state contracts","author":"Michele Marius","date":"July 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says even improved and amended procurement legislation would not have helped the Government save over $200 million on the Curepe Interchange project, as even with such legislation there were ways for corrupt politicians to use more taxpayers\u2019 money. \u201cIf what passed for competition then was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News\/Developments"","block_context":{"text":"News\/Developments","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/newsdevelopments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pink-Piggy-Bank-On-Top-Of-A-Pile-Of-One-Dollar-Bills-Ken-Teegardin-flickr-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C697&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pink-Piggy-Bank-On-Top-Of-A-Pile-Of-One-Dollar-Bills-Ken-Teegardin-flickr-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C697&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pink-Piggy-Bank-On-Top-Of-A-Pile-Of-One-Dollar-Bills-Ken-Teegardin-flickr-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C697&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pink-Piggy-Bank-On-Top-Of-A-Pile-Of-One-Dollar-Bills-Ken-Teegardin-flickr-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C697&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24367"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24371,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24367\/revisions\/24371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}