Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has announced that the Government has undertaken a review of the procurement system in a bid to stamp out corruption and to ensure that the procurement laws are being followed. 

At a press conference at his party’s headquarters, the Vice President said the review will focus on Government Ministries, Agencies, Statutory bodies, Regional bodies and even the National Tender Board to ensure full compliance with the law.

“And let me make it clear, that if we find, that those officers are skirting the provisions of the procurement law then there shall be consequences for them, because too often I hear people complain that in some parts of this country, somebody is doing something—people win a bid and after the bid is awarded, they try to change specs on the bid,” Mr. Jagdeo told reporters.

The Vice President said that strange practices have also been found during the payment phase to contractors. He said there have been complaints about delays in the processing of payments, with some officials hoping that the contractors would pay them to expedite their payments.

“Let me put on notice those people too, so the President has already spoken to the Ministers to ensure that this happens in their own sectors and we are going to take this matter seriously. Whether you are an accounting clerk holding up payment, or the procurement officer of the agency then there will be consequences for anyone,” Mr. Jagdeo stated. 

He said the review has become necessary as the Government continues to be dogged by complaints of corruption in the tender process especially in the awarding of contracts.

Mr. Jagdeo also promised that government will also set up sting-operations across the country to catch public officers involved in corruption.

“So if you have been engage in these practices and you get caught, don’t come and later complain about you have kids or you have a party card or you belong to a party or something like that,” the Vice President said. 

Complaints of corruption have dogged the Government with very few efforts to tackle the problem.

Related posts:

VP Jagdeo calls on contractors to report corrupt practices by Government workers Opposition continues calls for VP Jagdeo to removed over corruption allegations Transparency Group calls for Commission of Inquiry into corruption allegations made against Jagdeo Jagdeo sets up Facebook page to fight corruption