Disappointed in PM’s procurement stance
Trinidad and Tobago
The Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC) is heartened that the prime minister has broken his long and loud silence on procurement legislation, as reported in Tuesday’s Express.
The JCC, and no doubt the rest of the public, is very confused, however, by Dr Rowley’s claim that he is disappointed in the delays, when he is the one ultimately responsible for the action that was, and still is, required by his Government to prepare the various Government agencies that spend public money.
Is Dr Rowley still surprised when only 70 public bodies of 415 have responded to the Office of the Procurement Regulator’s (OPR) Readiness Assessment carried out early in 2021 and reported to the Public Accounts Committee on January 11, 2022?
Can Dr Rowley explain why after seven years in the making he has not driven the process (that he is so passionate about) by leaning on his ministers to ensure that compliance with the legislation takes place at all levels of the ministries?
Instead, the prime minister has come crying to the public after all this time that “every time we attempt to proclaim these law elements, I should say that interested parties will point out pitfalls”. And he then goes on to state the obvious: “there always seems to be some problem because this is a very far-reaching piece of legislation”.
Of course, it is “far-reaching”, Mr Prime Minister. Hence the clarion call for procurement reform going on for 20 years now in a country that continues to drop in the Corruption Perceptions Index, as reported by Transparency International.
Dr Rowley’s true feelings about this legislation became clear when he stated “it has the potential to assist in corruption”.
He needs to clarify for the public what he means by this, as this bill was debated in both Houses of Parliament and passed after three sets of amendments. Now our PM does not believe that it is a “panacea for all things corrupt”.
The JCC is not aware of any persons or entities in this country who have articulated this latter view. Dr Rowley should clarify who are these “some people” to whom he has been quoted as casually referring.
The citizens of T&T have waited long enough for independent scrutiny of inefficient and corrupt public spending. In the current scenario, the Regulator has absolutely no power to act in the interest of the public, to investigate any ongoing or new procurement issue, while the various State agencies continue to squander public funds with sheltered impunity. The public, therefore, expects the PM to provide, instead, deadlines to his ministers and transparently report these deadlines to the public. We are simply fed up with obfuscation and excuses.
Our prime minister has been in a unique position for the last seven years to operationalise truly ground-breaking legislation that will catalyse a change in behaviour around public money—and this change will take many years, if not decades.
This process of societal change cannot start unless the law is operationalised. The effects of a less corrupt country will eventually benefit citizens directly, in terms of a reduction in the annual estimated loss to corruption of over $5 billion, and an increased value for money on public projects.
There is a more important positive impact, in terms of the potential to address white-collar crime that is surreptitiously connected to many other crimes. It is one of the best batons that we can pass to our children in these trying times. There is a Greek proverb that says, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in”.
The JCC again calls on the prime minister to please provide a deadline to his subordinates and operationalise the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act before the next budget is read.
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