No legal provision to invalidate gov’t contracts over $15M
-Minister of Business
There are no legal or constitutional provisions that invalidate government contracts or the business of government following a successful no-confidence vote, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin told Berbice businesspersons on Saturday.
Gaskin was at the time speaking at the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce (CCCC) dinner and awards. On the issue of government contracts and the suggestion that government contracts will be illegal or will not be honoured by the next government, Gaskin said that no legal or constitutional provision provides for this.
“I want to make that very clear because I believe what is being suggested is not in the best interest of our country,” he said.
Last week, attorney and accountant Christopher Ram initiated legal proceedings to prevent the payments on government contracts awarded after the successful December 21st vote on the no-confidence motion against the APNU+AFC administration. It is Ram’s contention that all procurements (contracts) in excess of $15 million cannot be approved in the interim and that any such procurement (contract) that has been approved by a purported Cabinet after the evening of December 21st, 2018, is unconstitutional, unlawful, null, void and is of no legal effect. Ram is seeking an order restraining Permanent Secretaries within all government ministries from making any payment towards any contract in excess of $15 million that was approved by “a purported Cabinet” after the evening of December 21st, 2018. A date for a hearing is to be fixed today.
Gaskin, on Saturday, pointed out that Cabinet for years now, has relinquished any formal role in the awarding of government contracts
“It is not ministers who sign contracts. I have never signed a government contract in my life. It is the PSs (Permanent Secretaries) who sign contracts,” the minister said while pointing out that those officials are accountable and bound by the rules of the Public Procurement Act as well as the rules of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board.
“So that there is no interference in the awarding of the contracts by ministers and the suggestion that because there is no Cabinet, there can be no contract awarded (over) $15 million is also, I think, a bit of a long shot because for a number of years now, since the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, government has relinquished any formal role in the
awarding of government Gaskin pointed out.
“All Cabinet has been doing since then is noting the awards of contracts, not approving, not giving a no-objection, just noting the awards of contracts for information purposes,” he added.
The minister told the gathering that he was touching on the issue at that forum because they - the private sector understand the importance of money being spent by government in the country’s economy.
“So I’m saying to you that what is suggested and what is intended is not in the best interest of the private sector whether you are a government contractor or…a businessperson. It is usually a challenge for government to spend all its capital budget in one year so if we are saying that we will somehow suspend that in the beginning of the year, can you imagine the impact it will have on this economy,” he asked.
Gaskin also pointed out that it is not ministers or Cabinet that are the beneficiaries of government spending but rather, it is the citizens of the country, “and of course, the contractors and their employees who are awarded contracts.”
He also noted that, “The very said Parliament that voted against the government on the 21st December, approved the budget for 2019 two weeks before that, and I believe that if we are being asked to respect one parliamentary process, we must also be respectful of the other parliamentary process.”
He emphasised that the monies appropriated through the budget for various ministries and agencies were “legally appropriated.”
Gaskin also said that following the vote of no-confidence, the government did “agree that they would uphold the Constitution and respect the process.” However, contracts,” he told the gathering that they have to understand what exactly that means, as he pointed out that “it is unprecedented, it has never happened and therefore there is no rulebook that says how you behave, how you act, what you do following a noconfidence motion.”
The minister said that government, acting on legal advice, decided to challenge the passage of the motion. “The Speaker declined to revisit his ruling, the matter was referred to the courts, the Chief Justice upheld the ruling of the Speaker and also went a step forward and provided some guidance on a number of issues including the status of the Cabinet. The government has still appealed the ruling of the Chief Justice; however, the government has respected the ruling of the Chief Justice and you may have noticed that the government is acting on that ruling in regards of the status of the Cabinet,” he said.
Gaskin contended that it was premature to assume that the government was disregarding the ruling of the Speaker or the Chief Justice. “What the government is doing is exhausting its legal recourse,” he said.
The minister further stated that he personally does not like to use the term constitutional crisis but rather prefers “political predicament.”
“Because I believe constitutional crisis assumes that there can be no political solution. I believe that there will be a political solution, there has to be a political solution as long as there is political maturity,” he declared. He opined that there is enough political maturity to arrive at a solution. “So I don’t want to speculate on the prospect of a constitutional crisis, it’s not good for Guyana and it’s certainly not good for business,” he said.
Gaskin added that Guyana’s problems are not going away overnight and no one group is going to solve the country’s problems. The sooner this is realised, the sooner the country can start to work together to overcome decades old problems, he said.
Meanwhile, the CCCC President, Poonai Bhigroog, said that the chamber is concerned about the present situation in Guyana, as, with the oil and gas sector, there is a foreseen bright future for Guyana. “But with what’s happening right now, we are not sure. A lot of businesses are taking a back stand, you don’t know what is going to happen so you are just looking on what’s going to happen,” he said.
The businessman further added that Guyanese need to stop complaining and get to business. “I hope that we can get past this here. Good sense can prevail and we can move forward and take our beloved country to different heights and reverse what’s happening. Instead of migration, let us get people coming into our country,” he said.
Meantime, Bhigroog also announced that receiving the President’s Award was businesswoman Bibi Azeez. He highlighted that Azeez is dedicated towards the Chamber’s business and is very hardworking and caring. “She looks out (for) the Chamber; looks out in terms of when there is decisions to be made, she is very dedicated to our Chamber,” he said.
The CCCC president disclosed further that with the profit from the Chamber’s last Berbice Expo and Trade Fair, $1 million would be donated to renovate a portion of the fence at the Albion Sports Complex. Additionally, he said, incinerators costing $130,000 each, would be built at all 18 primary schools on the Corentyne. He said too that the Chamber has embarked on building a play park in Rose Hall Town once the identified plot of land is officially handed over to it. He added that some amount of money would also be spent to further improve the services at the Port Mourant Hospital.
Earlier, Gaskin also highlighted that Guyana had received the best eco-tourism destination in the world award from the Green Destinations Foundation. “So Guyana is being noticed. Guyana is in the spotlight internationally mainly because what is happening in the oil and gas sector and we need to take advantage of the high profile that we now have,” he said. He added that Guyanese need to get just as excited as foreigners and remain proactive and prepare themselves to take advantage of the benefits.