VP Jagdeo again warns public officials over procurement breaches
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has again warned senior public officials that breaches of procurement and government payment rules will have consequences.
Jagdeo delivered the latest warning on Monday at a meeting at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre attended by ministers, all Permanent Secretaries and Regional Executive Officers, accounting officers from key semi-autonomous agencies and other officials.
According to a government release, the meeting dealt with procurement transactions, government payment systems and other measures aimed at improving accountability across the public sector. Officials were told they were responsible for ensuring compliance with the laws governing the management of public funds and that breaches would carry consequences.
The government did not say what prompted the meeting, identify any recent breaches or state what consequences would apply. It said initiatives to strengthen the tracking of compliance with procurement and payment systems were discussed, but gave no details of those measures.
Jagdeo issued a considerably more detailed warning at a similar meeting at the same venue in September 2024, also attended by Permanent Secretaries, Regional Executive Officers and accounting officers from state agencies.
At that meeting, he complained about departures from the Procurement Act and standard bidding documents, the manipulation of the three-quotation system, unjustified restrictive tendering and agencies delaying projects before using the year-end rush to seek approval for sole sourcing.
He also raised cases in which bribes were allegedly being sought to speed up payments to contractors.
Jagdeo said then that officials with private companies should not be bidding for contracts in agencies where they worked. He also criticised inflated bills, the misuse of contingency sums and contracts padded with items such as vehicles and computers that were not essential to the project. Several engineers had been fired for approving substandard work that resulted in government payments, he said.
The warnings have continued. In May this year, President Irfaan Ali and Jagdeo met ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Regional Executive Officers, NPTAB officials and accounting officers and again demanded compliance with procurement rules. The government said then that breaches of financial and procurement procedures could result in “severe consequences”, including removal from office, and that technology would be used to monitor procurement and detect questionable practices.
Monday’s statement did not identify any official who had been sanctioned as a result of the earlier warnings.
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