The report published in the Friday, January 20th issue of this newspaper regarding the flooding in parts of Charlestown and Albouystown, the result of what the report refers to as “shoddy koker work” completed by a private contractor, is a microcosm of a deeper problem of contractors seemingly failing – whether through a competency deficit or through deliberate departure from the specifications of the contract – to properly execute the specific deliverables. Put, differently, we are not, it seems, in many cases, getting value for money.
This circumstance is widely believed to be embedded in the practices that are part of the tender regime itself, practices that allow for stealing from the state by assorted beneficiaries.
The culture of bribes and kickbacks (these are, in fact, what they are) in the state tender system are uniquely damaging since it is callously indifferent to whether or not state-funded projects executed via private contractors deliver value for money.
We don’t know exactly what happened with the South Georgetown koker door project, what we do know is that Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha’s protestation that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) “went through a very transparent process” with the contractors, prior to the award of the contract, is more likely than not to be greeted with a collective – pull the other leg – broad public grin.
The Minister’s assertion that “a very transparent process” had been gone through prior to the award of the koker door contract is almost certain to be ‘trumped’ by an embedded ‘understanding’ of just how the state tender process really works.
As an aside, now that the koker contract would appear to have been rescinded on the basis of shoddy execution it is altogether apposite to inquire into what would now be the fate of those public funds that would have been expended on a project which, according, to the subject Minister himself and seemingly on the basis of the available evidence, manifestly failed to provide the anticipated deliverables.
It will be recalled that back in 2021 a Stabroek News editorial alluded to “the flippant manner in which political administrations in our country ‘play monopoly’ with public monies and lawful procedures” in the setting aside of a litany of tender regulations in pursuit of the renovation of the “Queen’s College living quarters.” Those included the certification by “the Superinten-dent of Works” that the exercise had been satisfactorily completed three days before the contract was even awarded. That would have to go down as being among the most brazen, most contemptuous transgressions of the tender procedures.
In the instance of the “shoddy koker work” reportedly executed by a company named Square Commodities Construction Company, the Minister appeared to be swift in asserting that “this is the first time we’ve worked with this company,” an assertion which, in itself, raises questions as to whether the requisite due diligence was undertaken prior to the signing of the contract and, moreover, whether or not there would have been penalty clauses for the ‘slipshod’ execution.
Two other considerations arise here. The first has to do with whether the authorities will ever cease the practice of simply ‘rubbishing’ the stipulations of the tender process by bending it to what one might call ‘gravy train’ considerations. The second, has to do with the very real danger that going forward, when, as is likely, greater oil and gas returns make much larger sums available for much bigger state contracts, the tender process will become even more convoluted, more steeped in ingenious shenanigans.
One important ‘take away’ from the recent unfortunate koker experience is that living as we do in times when what is now an oil-driven economy allows for the ‘doling out’ of sundry contracts in various sectors, there is a compelling need for a comprehensive, scrupulous review of tender regulations that reduces individual say-so, tying procedures to explicit rules and regulations and instituting specific penalties for transgressions. If this is unlikely to meet with the approval of the gravy-trainers, it will help to remove the stench of corruption around the tender process.
Cleaning up the tender process will, increasingly, become a matter of particular national urgency as increasing numbers of strategically important projects that are tied to the oil-driven development of the country continue to be doled out.
