Dear Editor,
The PPP government has been consistently dismissive of claims of ‘economic apartheid’ and ‘racial discrimination’ whenever those have been made and has responded with derision to the claims and denigration of the claimants; the production of statistics on the 6th December (MP David Patterson’s Facebook page) that show less than 8% of the total dollar value of all government contracts go to Black-owned businesses is being treated in the same manner, and that cannot be the correct approach in a country that boasts of inclusive democracy. These are damning statistics at face value and require a response from President Ali.
At the very least, an investigative/working group should be assigned the task of examining these statistics, firstly to verify their accuracy, secondly to present the accurate statistics (even if they match), thirdly, to ascertain the reasons for any ethnic imbalances found, fourthly to make suggestions to correct/improve the systems that govern the award of contracts to minimize discriminatory practices.
The big question to be answered remains is the procurement system being manipulated in any way and do the outcomes favour one race, religion, or clique? The fact that a man, his wife, his son, and his daughter were all given $45m road contracts each, in the recent awards in Berbice would suggest so, especially since the wife, son, and daughter have no prior experience in road building. The same claims are made by MP Patterson in the award of West Demerara projects on a much grander scale. One company awarded a contract of $1,834,765,958 is described by Patterson as an ‘Indian Guyanese company’ ‘with no prior history of road construction’ and the same is said of another who has a $1.3B contract award. These are serious claims that require serious investigation.
Editor, anecdotal arguments can and will be made to defend the procurement system, but let us lay to rest the fallacy that Black businessmen are not applying for contracts and are losing out in every instance via a fair process. The first step to a better Guyana begins with honesty and the second is equality.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh
