Retired Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Joylyn Nestor-Burrowes admitted to breaching the Procurement Act in 2019 by allowing a contractor to execute works in the absence of a written contract.
Nestor-Burrowes made this admission before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday which subsequently sent a stern warning to accounting officers to desist from such practices. Both sides of the PAC said the procurement regulations must at all times be followed in the interest of transparency and accountability.
“This committee stands resolute to ensure every accounting officer be held responsible when they are executing their duties on behalf of the state or agency. They must follow the law to the ‘T’,” the PAC’s Chairman Jermaine Figueira said during deliberations.
The reminder to accounting officers came on the heels of the committee re-examining the Auditor General’s 2019 report on the Ministry of Legal Affairs. The report had flagged the Ministry’s breach of the Procurement Act after a contract for electrical work was signed a month after the completion of the works. The Auditor General’s report stated that the audit examination of the payment voucher, related documents and the physical verification revealed that the certification of the inspection works and the defects liability period were done before the contract was signed. The contract was signed on 29 July 2019 and Certification of inspection of works done on 16 June 2019 after the defects liability period from 15 June – 16 June 2019.
In scrutinizing the report, members of the PAC questioned who instructed that the works be carried out but neither Nestor-Burrowes nor the former Deputy Permanent Secretary, Tamika Barkoye, could provide any clear answers. Barkoye informed the PAC that while acting as PS, she prepared a contract on the certification of works. However, she said that she only got involved in the process after the contractor, Climate Change Refrigeration and Air Conditioning requested payments.
On March 6 this year, when the agency first appeared before the PAC, Nestor-Burrowes, when pressed on what led to the contract signing after works were completed, informed that she was on leave. The PAC was given the impression that it was Barkoye who executed the procurement process. This led to Barkoye, who now functions in the same post at the Ministry of Public Works being summoned before the PAC. However, during the questioning the PAC learnt that Nestor-Burrowes, between May and June 2019, was involved in the procurement process.
“Yes, yes we agree we would have breached the regulations…emphasis was placed on getting the job done before following due process… and also to avoid some disruption to the ministry’s work the project was given some urgency,” Nestor-Burrowes admitted to the parliamentary committee.
APNU+AFC MP Ganesh Mahipaul was quick to point out that these actions cannot be tolerated as it opens the door to irregularities with much bigger contracts.
“What you did here was to clearly make the system a rubber stamp. That cannot be tolerated and must be reprimanded,” Mahipaul said. Meanwhile, PPP/C Member and Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira rubbished the claim that the work was urgent and had an impact on the ministry’s daily operation.
She said that there is no explanation justifying the project being deemed urgent that could have resulted in emergency procurement. She stated that even if it was urgent, the Procurement Act speaks to the handling of such issues. Further, she posited that Barkoye should have engaged external agencies such as the Auditor General’s office and the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board for advice on how to deal with the issue.
“…Being presented by the contractor with works completed was not sufficient to issue the contract. I think PSs and DPSs can refuse to do things that they know are unlawful and this was unlawful, it was not allowed,” Teixeira stated.
Mislead
Meantime, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, while supporting the views expressed by fellow members of the PAC, called out Nestor-Burrowes for misleading the committee. At the March 6 meeting, Edghill said the now retired PS “washed her hands clean” of any involvement in the procurement process when she was questioned on the subject. He, along with other members, after realising that Nestor-Burrowes was a part of the process said that they were given impression that she had no dealings with it.
“I am sorry if I gave that impression. I am someone who always follows the regulations of the public service. This is a really unfortunate situation,” Nestor-Burrowes said in her defence. She explained and sought to inform the House that she never attempted to mislead the committee and at the time, she pointed out Barkoye’s involvement was in relation to questioning of the contract and not the entire procurement process. However, Edghill stated he found it unacceptable that public officers are not willing to take responsibility for their actions but rather pin it on another person. Edghill went on to state that accounting officers or heads of agencies should not seek to remove themselves from being responsible by putting someone else to take the blame. “We cannot allow this,” he emphasised.
“It is human to err and it is divine to forgive… sometimes I think we need to be more professional and not treat us like criminals…treat us with some respect man,” Nestor-Burrowes said while accusing the members of trying to be disrespectful and making assumptions. However, the Chairman informed her that it was never the members’ intention to be disrespectful to accounting officers. He stated that it is the duty of the PAC to be firm and to get answers from accounting officers. Figueira, while thanking her for her 35 years of service in the public sector, reminded that a part of the PAC’s duty is to hold accounting officers responsible for their actions. He also said that the laws must be followed to the ‘T’ at all times and that the system was put in place to guarantee transparency and accountability.
