Rowley disappointed at delays in procurement law
Trinidad and Tobago
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said he is anxious to have the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act proclaimed, and he expressed disappointment at the delay in the full implementation of the law.
At a press conference yesterday, Rowley disagreed with the suggestion that the Government has an interest in not proclaiming the Act and is deliberately dragging its feet on the matter.
“For those who know what I’ve been doing as Prime Minister and my view on this matter, they will tell you that nothing is further from the truth,” he said.
“What has been happening is that everytime we attempt to proclaim these law elements, I should say interested parties and clients will point out pitfalls. And we come back to the Parliament and we adjust it. But there always seems to be some problem because this is a very far reaching piece of legislation, which could have serious consequences to the operations of the Government.
“Some people believe that it’s a panacea for all things corrupt. I don’t believe that. Many people don’t believe that. As a matter of fact, it has the potential to assist in corruption if you want to be corrupt. But the bottom line is that you will have legislation to deal with the corrupt action in the event that it takes place. And upfront, it has operations that should direct the state operations and private sector operations with the state away from corrupt action,” he said.
He said the “very last disappointment” the legislation experienced was that just as the Government was about to proclaim it, it happened to have been the time when the new attorney general came into office “completely separate and apart from this.”
“One of the first assignments I gave that Attorney General was to ensure that we are in a position to have this piece of legislation proclaimed, because we have come to the point where we think we have dotted as many T’s and crossed as many i’s. Out of that has come some significant comments, which call for caution with respect to the proclamation of the act as it is. For me, that is disappointing, but it cannot be disregarded,” Rowley said.
Four weeks ago, in a statement to Parliament, Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC said that more consultation needs to be done before the Act can be proclaimed based on communication he received from the Office of the Procurement Regulation (OPR) and the Judiciary.
Dr Rowley said, as a result there will be a delay.
“It would be irresponsible of me and the Government to disregard what has been identified by the Chief Justice and, of course, what is being also considered by the Office of the Regulator, notwithstanding how eager we are to have it proclaimed so that we can once and for all put this on the books.
“So there’s gonna be a little delay. But it is not because we want to delay it. It is because we want to respond to what has been identified as pitfalls with far reaching consequences. And as soon as the Attorney General is in a position to address those, he will inform the country and we will move with the reasonable haste to get it put on the books. That is where we are with procurement legislation.
“It’s a piece of new legislation, which is very complex, which we could proclaim it as is, but to do so knowing that there will be these problems pointed out to us by the offices, especially the office of the Chief justice is to find ourselves at a later date being accused of being irresponsible,” he said.
Rowley said he has been behind the Minister of Finance and the Attorney General to do the work to proclaim it, with “the legislation having been passed and amended and adjusted on numerous occasions.”
“I am anxious for this to be done, if only that it would not be said that the government is, in fact, benefiting from not having legislation like this in place. Some people believe that there is no procurement legislation. That is not true. There is procurement legislation. That is why you have a Central Tenders Board and other regulations in the Exchequer Act. What this legislation is, is new and expanded procurement legislation,” he said.
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