Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is calling on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to explain why the Government has decided to amend Section 7 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act to remove the following services: legal, financial, accounting, auditing and medical services.
Her questions come as the United National Congress (UNC) refuses to support any of the Government’s proposed legislation until the Procurement law is proclaimed.
The Act will come up for debate with amendments in the House of Representatives on Friday, much to the dismay of the Opposition Leader.
“The government will move an amendment to the Procurement Act to extract the teeth out of the legislation, leaving it without any bite at curbing corruption. This is the third attempt by this PNM government to water-down the Procurement legislation,” she said.
The UNC leader stated that the administration has missed an opportunity to bring the necessary Regulations required to operationalise the Act to the Parliament.
Furthermore, Persad-Bissessar reminded that the Act, passed in December 2014 and partially proclaimed in July 2015, sought to promote:
(a) the principles of accountability, integrity, transparency and value for money;
(b) efficiency, fairness, equity and public confidence; and
(c) local industry development, sustainable procurement and sustainable development, in public procurement and the disposal of public property.
“For the past 5 years, there has been no attempt by this Government to make any moves to operationalise this legislation. After repeated calls by the Opposition and civil society, this Government has failed to fully proclaim the legislation.”
“This PNM government now wants to remove these services and transactions from scrutiny not just of the Regulator, but of Parliament as well. What makes this more distasteful and unethical is that we passed this Act in 2014 with a special majority and this Government now proposes to defeat the very object and purpose of this Act by a simple majority vote.”
Meanwhile, Persad-Bissessar said the Government must answer why legal services and medical services are exempt from the Act.
“Is it because there is a Minister of Government with an interest in a medical company? Is the exemption for the provision of financial services as a result of a Minister of Government’s close ties to a relative that provides financial services to the Government?” she asked.
The UNC leader said the Procurement Regulator and his team have not been given a chance to oversee the procurement practices and disposal of public property, adding that they have been rendered impotent by the government’s proposed amendments.
She ended with a stern warning that implies her party ill not support the proposed amendments.
“Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the UNC oppose this boldfaced tactic by the Rowley regime to demoralise and destabilise our independent institutions and our very democracy.”
