Granger enters major contracts, appointments, etc

Incumbent President, David Granger, has entered into a plethora of multi-million dollar contracts and appointed a number of state boards, despite promising to not do so in 2019. This was following the Consequential Orders handed down by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which validly passed the December 21, 2018 noconfidence motion.

On July 14, 2019, following the consequential orders and declarations of the CCJ, the Granger administration had accepted that it was in “caretaker” mode. In fact, the Government said it will restrain the exercise of its legal authority. “This means that while the Government will continue its routine management of the country, it will also address urgent issues that are in the public interest,” the Granger government had noted in a statement to the press on that evening.

Later on September 19, 2019 the CCJ determined that, by convention: “the Government is expected to behave during the interim period as a caretaker and be so restrained in the exercise of its lawful authority.” Granger said, “My Government has accepted that it is now in an ‘interim’ mode. Government is exercising restraint on its executive authority. Overseas travel by Ministers has been restricted to essential. No new policy is being implemented nor are any major agreements being signed…” However in a matter of months, post the March 2, General and Regional elections, the Granger-led administration not only awarded billions of dollars in contracts but acres of prime East Coast lands to developers, appointed members across state boards, among other major undertakings.

From March 3 to June 22, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) had awarded over $2B in contracts for just over 45 governmental projects, according to information gleaned from NPTAB’s website on contracts awarded during that period, as a previous Kaieteur News article revealed.

A $1B contract to retrofit the Ocean View Hotel on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), a $352M contract which was awarded to BK International Incorporated to construct rip rap sea defenses in Mahaicony, Region Five; the awarding of 130 acres of prime land situated on the ECD which have a price tag of millions of dollars, are just some of the bigmoney projects that have been awarded by the tender administration board since March 2. (Kaieteur News)