Region Six tender board sitting without members elected by RDC
Despite the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) electing two members to sit on the Regional Tender Board at their last statutory meeting, Stabroek News has confirmed that the board is meeting without the two elected members, resulting in limited scrutiny at the level of the board.
Previously, PPP/C regional councillors, Zamal Hussain and Phillip Rose sat on the board with the three members appointed by the National Tender Board which included the Regional Executive Officer, Kim Williams-Stephen, as chairperson of the board.
However, last month, Hussain was booted from the board along with Rose, and another person, Compton Grant, former APNU Deputy Mayor and councillor in the New Amsterdam Town Council, selected by the “regional administration.”
Rose, however, had resigned from the board and indicated that he will only sit on the board if recommended by the Regional Democratic Council, since according to him, it is the “correct process.”
At the RDC’s recent statutory meeting, Hussain and Rose were elected to sit on the board.
However, the board is currently sitting with WilliamsStephen as chairperson, Grant, and the two other members selected by the National Tender Board.
The two persons selected by the National Tender Board to sit on the board are an APNU+AFC councillor from a Neighbourhood Democratic Council on the Corentyne, and an APNU activist in the region, Stabroek News was told.
Williams-Stephen yesterday confirmed to Stabroek
News, that the region’s tender board is sitting as she directed Stabroek News once again to the Section 19 (2) of the National Procurement Act which states that each regional tender board shall consist of five members as follows; (a) three members appointed by the National Tender Board, and (b) two members appointed by the Regional Administration from among persons with qualifications not dissimilar to those required for appointment to the National Board.
She said, the regional tender board “cannot not meet” as services provided by the administration for the benefit of residents must continue.
However, the RDC is contending that it is they who bear the responsibility of selecting the two members for the tender board, not the regional executive officer under the cloak of the “regional administration.”
Regional Chairman, David Armogan, yesterday when contacted, also confirmed that the Regional Tender Board is meeting without the persons elected by the Regional Democratic Council.
A seemingly frustrated Armogan argued that there is now no scrutiny on the board and Williams-Stephen seems to believe that she in her entirety is the “regional administration.”
He queried that if that were the case, then why is it when the president and ministers of government come to Berbice, they are telling residents to hold the “regional administration, Armogan” responsible?
Meanwhile, Hussain at the last statutory meeting quoted the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, as saying that, “The Regional Democratic Council is the supreme local democratic organ in each region with the responsibility for overall management and administration of the region.” Bulkan went on to explain, that the Regional Executive Officer of a region is the accounting officer and functions as the clerk of the Regional Democratic Council. He was also quoted as saying, “The main function of the democratic council is to administer all services required within the boundaries by the service such as health, education, public works etcetera.”
Hussain at the time also said, the contention is that two members must be appointed by the Regional Administration, “My knowledge didn’t say the region administrator must appoint two persons, it said the regional administration... Administration means the management of public affairs that is government, so when it say[s] the regional administration it does not mean the REO.”
He had opined, that what is happening now is that the APNU+AFC government “because of their motives they are manipulating the law.” He stressed that it is the RDC that has to choose the two remaining persons to make up the tender board.
He reminded that since 2003 to now, the RDC has been appointing two members to sit on the tender board, “If the government of the day was very keen on scrutiny, keen on accountability and the rule of law then you cannot allow the chairman of a tender board to choose two member[s] that they want.”
He had also questioned, the propriety of WilliamsStephen, who chairs the Regional Tender Board, to have a hand in selecting two members.