The names of the five nominees to sit on the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) have been formally accepted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, Chairman Jermaine Figueira has confirmed.
After much back and forth with the names and necessary protocols, they were formally accepted by the PAC on February 21.
The formal acceptance paves the way for the names to be placed on the agenda of the National Assembly. The names must receive two-thirds approval in parliament before the commissioners can be sworn in by the President.
It is unclear when the next sitting of the National Assembly will be.
The background checks for three of the nominees were still with the acting Commissioner of Police, Nigel Hoppie, resulting in a delay of the formal acceptance by committee on February 14.
After more than six months of deliberations, a subcommittee of the PAC settled on five names for the PPC which positions are meant to be full-time.
The APNU+AFC then changed one of its nominees from economist Rawle Lucas, who was initially nominated by the coalition, to AFC member, Diana Rajcumar.
The other nominees for the committee are attorney-at-law, Pauline Chase; financial analyst, Joel Bhagwandin; Rajnarine Singh for the PPP/C; and Berkley Wickham of the APNU+AFC Coalition.
Bhagwandin’s nomination had raised eyebrows since he was recently appointed Managing Director of TriStar, the shore base company owned by Florida, USA-based Guyanese Kris Persaud.
In October 2016, and more than 13 years after Guyana’s Constitution was amended to provide for the PPC, the procurement oversight body was established. Carol Corbin, Sukrishnalall Pasha, Emily Dodson, Ivor English, and former Minister of Labour, Nanda Kishore Gopaul, were the first commissioners.
The life of the last commission expired in October 2020.
