Civil Society group Article 13 has issued a call for the swift appointment of members to the Public Procurement Commission so that the Commission could get down to work.
In a statement, the Article 13 group said while it welcomes the announcement by Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Jermain Figueira, that steps have been made towards constituting the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should now take steps to urgently have the Commission in place.
The group reminded that fourteen months have now passed since the last commission expired.
A sub-committee of the PAC recently shortlisted the names of eight persons to be considered for the Public Procurement Commission. Only five persons are needed.
The Chairman of the Public Accounts recently said he hopes that the Public Procurement Commission will be reconstituted before the end of the year. The PAC sub-committee is expected to meet again this week.
The Article 13 Civil Society group has reminded that the architecture for Public Procurement includes the Procurement Commission Tribunal, the Chair of which is appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission.
There is also no Judicial Service Commission currently in place.
βThe life of that too has expired, even as contracts are awarded at all levels of Government. Unfortunately and regrettably, the political parties β large and small β treat such constitutional non-compliance as a fact of political life in Guyana,β the group said in its statement Sunday.
Article 13 said it is anxiously awaiting the day that Parliamentary Committees, such as the PAC, can feel empowered, uninhibited, and courageous enough to collectively write to the President pressing him to act on those matters requiring his attention.
The government has been bombarded with criticisms for its failure to push for the reconstitution of the PPC while dolling out billions of dollars in contracts.
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