Ramdeen: Ploy against reform

He said Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday told the Senate that his Ministry would select a recruitment firm to help the President select a Procurement Regulator, but that previously Imbert had told the Lower House that the ministry would supply a ranked short-list of candidates to the President to choose from.

This Ramdeen said was political interference.

He warned that any interference in a statutory selection process would be unconstitutional and would be struck down by the law courts. Ramdeen quoted the Procurement Act section 13(2) which says the regulator is not subject to direction or control but is simply accountable to Parliament.

He recalled that the High Court had struck down two parliamentary orders for appointing a Commissioner of Police.

Saying it seems the Government wants to interfere in the selection process, Ramdeen said this could be the last nail in the current procurement legislation, even as he cast doubt on the Government commitment by saying the motion is under debate some 19 months after the Government took office. He asked if the terms to be met by the regulator had been drafted so as to attract “a certain kind of person”? Ramdeen then said it was United National Congress (UNC) governments that had previously passed accountability Acts such as the Integrity in Public Life Act, Judicial Review Act, Freedom of Information Act and Procurement Act. Ramdeen alleged that the Government had crafted a Review Board in the Procurement Act so as to undermine the regulator.

He alleged that a former People’s National Movement (PNM) government had set up special purpose State companies so as to defeat the Central Tenders Board to which Government ministries/ divisions were subjected. “And this motion is to defeat the procurement legislation,” he added.