Economist, Rawle Lucas is among the five persons shortlisted to sit on the Public Procurement Commission.
Other nominees are President of the Guyana Bar Association, Pauline Chase, Financial Analyst, Joel Bhagwandin; former Guyana High Commissioner to Canada; Rajnarine Singh and former Chairman of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
The nominees were shortlisted from a list of 23 candidates who were submitted to the PAC for consideration. The five nominees were identified and agreed upon by the sub-committee, which comprises Chairman of the PAC, Jermaine Figueira, MP and Government’s Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira after more than five months of delays.
Now that the nominees have been shortlisted, their names will be submitted to the PAC for consideration before they are sent to the National Assembly for approval by a two-thirds majority.
Article 212 X (2) of the Constitution stipulates that “The President shall appoint the members of the Commission after such members have been nominated by the Public Accounts Committee and approved by not less than two-thirds of the elected members of the National Assembly.”
October 2021 marked one year since the Public Procurement Commission expired. It was previously headed by Carol Corbin – a Project Management Professional.
Under Article 212 W of the Constitution it is responsible for the monitoring of public procurement with the aim of ensuring that the procurement of goods, services and the execution of works are conducted in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective manner. In the absence of the PPC, MP Figueira said the Opposition has been inundated with complaints from contractors, who believe that they are being treated unfairly during the procurement process.
