Fuad: Fast-tracking only bad under UNC?

BARATARIA/SAN JUAN MP Dr Fuad Khan yesterday declared that if corruption of the tendering process occurred under the former UNC government, it was also alive and well under its PNM successor. In a statement, the UNC MP claimed that Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley recently said the procedures governing the award of contracts for State projects in Trinidad and Tobago “are so outdated and weak that Government has been finding ways to carry out the process without direct involvement of the Central Tenders Board.”

Khan recalled that when the former regime tried to fast-track the tendering process, the then Opposition PNM condemned the procedure as “corrupt.” “Why has the PNM made an about turn on this issue? What has changed?” he asked. The Opposition MP further questioned whether Rowley’s statement meant a lack of vision on the Government’s part or “an attempt by the powers that be to broaden its ability to empty the State’s coffers under the table.” “This government is trying everything possible to circumvent any process that would restrain them from brazenly exploiting the resources of the State for the purpose of nepotism via contracts for the boys. The plain and simple truth is if reform of the tendering process was recipe for corruption under the UNC, why is it any different under the PNM,” Khan declared. He added that “corruption in all its forms must be reduced or eliminated.”