The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property (Amendment) Bill, 2020 has passed in the Senate after being read for a third time.
The Government, which does not have a majority in the Upper House, needed to convince at least one of the nine Independent Senators to assist in making the Bill law.
The controversial Bill was moved to the committee stage for consideration clause by clause after a lengthy debate on Tuesday.
However, after a short period of time, it was Independent Senator Dr Maria Dillon-Remy with the bench breaking vote. The Bill was therefore passed with 16 votes for, six against and eight abstentions.
Several groups have criticised the Bill apart from the Opposition. This includes the Joint Chambers, Joint Council, Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute, Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) and watchdog group, Fixin’ T&T.
Most notably was the issue with Clause 5 which seeks to remove legal, financial accounting, auditing services, medical services or any other service as the minister may order, determine from the remit of the Procurement Regulator.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert, in wrapping up the debate, said there was no intention of removing oversight of the disposal of public property from the Regulator. He said, in fact, the amendment intends to remove the conflict of interest in allowing the Regulator to dispose of public property and investigate himself if any issue arises. He added that the changes do not apply to public-private partnerships.
“The Regulator is not accountable to the people and with due respect, neither are the Chambers of Commerce accountable to the people,” he said in response to criticism.
