OPINION: MP Patterson’s call for pump station award investigation, surely he should know better

Last Updated on Thursday, 5 October 2023, 9:44 by Denis Chabrol

by GHK Lall

I note in the media that Opposition MP, Mr. David Patterson, has written to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) to investigate the GY$865 million contract award for a pump station. His focus is what violates rules and procedures, what besmirches the sense of fair play in reasonable men.  My thoughts follow.

Every Guyanese is entitled to work; the choices of labor by some may leave recoiling.  Similarly, all Guyanese have the constitutional right to associate with whomever they please, regardless of major, recurring question marks that are irremovably attached to such bosom companions.

I now venture further afield, with Mr. Patterson’s written call for an investigation.  Whether as a Member of Parliament, or a plain citizen, this Guyanese political veteran should know that is an exercise in futility, a dead end that is over before any plausible investigation ever begins.  In my language, investigations in this country are fixes that would make the Mafia proud.  Just to be blindingly unambiguous, I don’t care what is being investigated (probed), or who is doing the job, be they individuals or groups, confidence is low.

Specific to the seemingly pristine PPC, there should be some honest people present, but as to their weight to carry the day for some genuinely investigative light to be shun, doubts multiply.  Moreover, it only takes one substandard presence to influence matters along premediated, prearranged pathways.  As an example, I present Exhibit I, the PPP: examine where it is due to the machinations of a handful of local Machiavelli(s).  No princes or princesses of purity are they.  To approach the PPC, therefore, is the equivalent of what is going at the Ministry of Natural Resources with that US$214 million national disgrace. That is, investigating itself.  MP Patterson must know how certain developments in this town are handled; they go nowhere when people are pressed to investigate their political kith and kin.  In case he needs more enlightenment, I recommend a talk with the chair of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, regarding how matters involving unreality and the unacceptable are dealt with there.

To credit MP Patterson’s efforts, there is weight to the requirement of three (3) years’ experience in projects of like kind, but political excellence beats engineering experience every day in the month.  Perhaps, I should say political egregiousness trumps glaring tears in track record, with emphasis on years of involvement in this kind of near billion-dollar undertaking.  Not as a wheelbarrow man, but as someone who knows about these things, and leads from the front.  The downside to Mr. Patterson’s push is that this has been done before, so there are precedents.  Another is that there could be somebody in that winning bidding group, who has been in business for the minimum three years.  It may have been selling sno-cones, or building dog kennels, but it counts.  From the appearance of this bureaucratic opera, which is not open to public viewing, considerable points could have been given by the tender board for such work experience.  The tender board should be most adept by now to interpret what is expected of its deliberations, its nervy constructions, and its likely well-studied options.

I exclude President Ali from this pump station affair, and do the same for The Right Honorable, The Archbishop Edghill (Public Works).  Embarrassingly, there are four potential losers in this muddle: the tender board which is already in the lineup; and the PPC, which could come out on the side of angels, but may feel itself beholden to preserve and protect benefactors.  The third is the taxpayer.  Last, the people who made viable, good faith bids, and trusted in the system to give them a fair hearing, are left to lick their wounds, replot their politics.  Welcome to Guyana, now open for business.  Any kind by anybody prepared to pay the piper, and play the fool.  Don’t look at me.  Look upstairs.