{"id":34232,"date":"2024-05-16T23:19:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T04:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=34232"},"modified":"2024-05-16T20:03:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T01:03:15","slug":"afc-calls-for-govt-nominees-on-ppc-to-step-down-over-tepui-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/afc-calls-for-govt-nominees-on-ppc-to-step-down-over-tepui-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC calls for gov\u2019t nominees on PPC to step down over Tepui decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guyana<\/p>\n

The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Friday called for the resignation of the government nominees on the procurement commission over their failure to sanction a pump station contract to Tepui Inc and it also called for a restructuring of\u00a0 the national tender board.<\/p>\n

The award of the Belle Vue pump station contract to Tepui Inc despite the fact that it had no construction experience with such a project has led to denunciations and the decision of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) on Tuesday not to take decisive action to end the contract has raised serious concerns.<\/p>\n

In its defence, the PPC in its Summary of Findings\u00a0 said that it has no powers to terminate a contract that has already been concluded.<\/span><\/p>\n

During his party\u2019s media conference held virtually, AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan lashed out at the government-appointed commissioners over the $865 million contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AFC regards the recent majority recommendation of the PPC, after the complaint by its Executive member and Parliamen-tarian Mr David Patterson, as shamelessly objectionable, unfair and yet another knockdown of a guardrail of our fragile democracy\u201d, he declared.<\/p>\n

He told the press that all five Commissioners agreed that Tepui had failed on the evaluation criteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cTepui\u2019s bid failed grievously on every evaluation criteria as found unanimously by 5 Com-missioners\u201d, the AFC Leader stated.<\/p>\n

Ramjattan said that his party when examining the PPC\u2019s Summary of Findings found it amazing that a bid which did not meet any of the evaluation criteria could have been passed by the Evaluation Committee at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) and given a no-objection by Cabinet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s leader said \u201cThe AFC does not know the names of the members of the Evaluation Commit-tee. However, their names must not be an official secret. The public has a right to know who they are. The AFC is aware that the head of NPTAB is Mr. Tarachand Balgobin, who has a senior advisory role at the Ministry of Finance as Deputy National Authorising Officer and head of its Public Invest-ment Unit. A conflict of interest is most noticeable here. Also, it is well known that Tepui\u2019s owner (Mikhail Rodrigues) is a close friend of Vice President Jagdeo. There is an undoubted conflict of interests and relationships here that mattered more than the merits of the Tepui bid\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ramjattan disclosed that the Summary of Findings approved by the PPC was not unanimous. The PPC comprises three commissioner nominated by the government and two by the opposition.<\/p>\n

He noted that what added the icing on the cake was when the commission noted that it could not propose any remedial action due to the privity of contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of misconceived `lenience\u2019 ought to have come only from the interested parties who want to see the award go to a friend. It should never have come from a constitutional body which was fought long and hard for to be a check and balance against executive lawlessness in procurement matters\u201d, Ramjattan declared.<\/p>\n

He was of the view that the legal device of privity of contract (by the three government-nominated Commissioners Joel Bhagwandin, Rajnarine Singh and Chairperson Pauline Chase) reflects poorly on the trustworthiness of the commission.<\/p>\n

Ramjattan said that this is an abdication of the duties by the three commissioners as they are duty- bound in protecting the public purse and preventing the chances of fraud and corruption in procurement matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey abandoned their power under article 212 AA (1)(h) and (i) which provides explicitly that they investigate complaints, and in cases of irregularity and mismanagement and \u201cto propose remedial action\u201d, Ramjattan argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, to use another device that the complaint was not brought by any competing bidder, but a civic-minded citizen, to deliberately avoid the remedy of voiding the award is an affront to the rule of law. By doing and rationalising as they did, those three Commissioners being so excessively deferential became an arm of the Executive, rather than a check and balance as was intended by the framers of the Constitution. They heeded not the prescription of the Supreme law of the land, but found succour in common law precepts of privity of contract and improper party to legalize illegality\u201d, Ramjattan argued<\/p>\n

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

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Image: pexels-introspectivedsgn<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Guyana The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Friday called for the resignation of the government nominees on the procurement commission over their failure to sanction a pump station contract to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":34233,"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":[244,116,71],"class_list":["post-34232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-electricity-energy","tag-guyana","tag-procurement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/pexels-introspectivedsgn-9216590-scaled-e1715907362603.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-8U8","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34549,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/afc-hammers-procurement-commissions-inaction-on-belle-vue-pump-station-contract\/","url_meta":{"origin":34232,"position":0},"title":"AFC hammers Procurement Commission\u2019s inaction on Belle Vue pump station contract","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"June 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana The Alliance for Change today hammered the majority decision of the Public Procurement Commission not to take action in the award of the $865M Belle Vue pump station contract, although several breaches were found in the award of the contract. The contract was awarded to the Tepui company, which\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\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36947,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/opposition-calls-for-probe-of-nptab-procurement-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":34232,"position":1},"title":"Opposition calls for probe of NPTAB, procurement system","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"November 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana The opposition APNU+AFC yesterday called for a probe of the national tender board and the procurement system in the wake of the scandalous award of the Belle Vue Pump Station contract to Tepui Inc. In a statement, it said that the findings of the Public Procurement Com-mission (PPC) on\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\/07\/pexels-dariabuntaria-2678104-scaled-e1721583477683.jpg?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-dariabuntaria-2678104-scaled-e1721583477683.jpg?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-dariabuntaria-2678104-scaled-e1721583477683.jpg?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-dariabuntaria-2678104-scaled-e1721583477683.jpg?fit=1024%2C679&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33040,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/agri-minister-says-works-underway-on-pump-station-controversially-awarded-to-tepui\/","url_meta":{"origin":34232,"position":2},"title":"Agri Minister says works underway on pump station controversially awarded to Tepui","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"March 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana \u2013 despite serious complaint before procurement commission Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Wednesday announced that works had started on January 30th on the Belle Vue Pump station controversially awarded to the company, Tepui despite the fact that serious complaints have been made about its ineligibility for the task. The\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\/03\/pexels-connor-forsyth-3971795-scaled-e1709849392312.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\/03\/pexels-connor-forsyth-3971795-scaled-e1709849392312.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/pexels-connor-forsyth-3971795-scaled-e1709849392312.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/pexels-connor-forsyth-3971795-scaled-e1709849392312.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37619,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/procurement-commission-derelict-in-not-acting-against-tepui-contract-patterson\/","url_meta":{"origin":34232,"position":3},"title":"Procurement commission derelict in not acting against Tepui contract \u2013 Patterson","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"December 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana The fact that the procurement commission found major breaches in the evaluation process but said it could do nothing about the pump station contract awarded to Tepui Inc., is a dereliction of duty and indication of incompetence says APNU+AFC Member of Parliament David Patterson. \u201cFrom their response alone (the\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":38110,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/ndia-still-to-update-procurement-commission-on-tepui-pump-station-contract\/","url_meta":{"origin":34232,"position":4},"title":"NDIA still to update procurement commission on Tepui pump station contract","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"January 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana More than a month later, the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is still to be updated by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) on the progress of the Belle Vue pump station which was controversially awarded to Tepui Inc. A visit by the Sunday Stabroek to the site yesterday\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\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31533,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/ppc-probing-complaint-over-belle-vue-pump-station-award-patterson\/","url_meta":{"origin":34232,"position":5},"title":"PPC probing complaint over Belle Vue pump station award \u2013 Patterson","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"December 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana Former Public Works Minister David Patterson yesterday said that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has said that it has launched a probe into the contentious $865 million Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, pump station contract awarded to the Tepui Group. The APNU+AFC MP told Stabroek News that this response\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\/2023\/12\/pexels-pixabay-208661-scaled-e1701993214538.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pexels-pixabay-208661-scaled-e1701993214538.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pexels-pixabay-208661-scaled-e1701993214538.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pexels-pixabay-208661-scaled-e1701993214538.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34232","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=34232"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34243,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34232\/revisions\/34243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}