Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo calls for procurement compliance in Guyana’s public sector

Speaking at the Arthur Chung Conference Center in a decisive meeting, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo once more clarified the stance of the government of Guyana towards upholding higher procurement standards within the public sector agencies.

This presentation by Bharrat Jagdeo to the senior officials on September 24, 2024, finally became a turning point from which the government went on to continue its strides in upgrading how the public project implementation would become more responsive to transparency and accountability.

A Commitment to Accountability

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo stressed the need for an important imperative: the administration will not tolerate breaches of procurement law.

In a society where public confidence comes first, he urged that the public service adhere strictly to the Procurement Act and the Standard Bidding Documents.

A strong stand would be a bold move toward more accountability, especially with the country expanding its Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP).

Challenges and Success

Noting the problems that agencies faced in dealing with the ambitious PSIP, Bharrat Jagdeo also acknowledges and commends public servants for the success with which they have completed some 95% of their projects in keeping with procurement rules.

But he raised concern over the remaining 5%, a good chunk of which had attracted significant parliamentary opposition. He argued that, if these cases were dealt with properly, it would be clear that nothing, but fair procurement was involved.

So, he suggested that in any such case, the officer concerned must ensure that nothing short of the highest standard prevails.

Detection and Redress

Procurement infractions that are identified, needs immediate attention he mentioned. He dealt with issues which were with intention to waive guidelines. Thus, any deviation of this nature has to be pre-approved by National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).

He cautioned against attempts to retroactively justify sole sourcing of contracts due to efforts to deliberately slow down the implementation of projects.

Eliminating Corruption and Conflicts of Interest

A third area of focus in Bharrat Jagdeo’s message was on corruption in the public procurement process. He condemned cases such as bribery to receive early payment and identified risks from conflicts of interest, where the official serving in a private company bid for the contract with their respective agency.

This shows that the government is very keen to have a governance that is clean, and integrity should rule every activity of the public sector.

Having Financial Integrity

Bharrat Jagdeo cited over-billed payments and unnecessary items in contracts that inflate costs exponentially.

He expressed the desire for the public service to be contract-intelligent, ensuring that only the basics are included in the deliverables of a contract and no unnecessary waste is embedded therein. This is a call toward fiscal integrity to ensure strategic resource allocation and sustainability of trust.

Toward a Transparent Future

Bharrat Jagdeo further stated that there would be no transparency and accountability and ethical governance deficit in the implementation of its ambitious public sector investment plans.

The Vice President indicated that data-driven decision making would call upon the fine-tuning of the effectiveness of policy and mop up misinformation as discussions about budget 2025 initiates.

At a time when public glare is at an all-time high, it becomes increasingly important for people’s leaders like Bharrat Jagdeo to emphasize resolute commitment to procurement compliance in order to start that much-needed process of building a culture of integrity within the public service of Guyana.

With accountability, transparency, and ethics at its core, such a government can seek greater public trust in its resource usage and ensure taxpayers’ resources are used effectively so that the benefits of the country and its citizenry are shared by all.