The Context of FOIs
Kaieteur News Editorial. July 16, 2008
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=2942
In certain political quarters, especially from those in or affiliated to parties in power, the calls for a Freedom of Information Act are seen as threats to the regime.
This is very unfortunate but perhaps understandable in light of the penchant of those elevated to power to insist on untrammelled freedom of action for themselves. However, the experience of countries that have enacted the legislation for a while now, such as Canada, has demonstrated that on the whole, the governance of the state is enhanced.
The following summarises the views of Steven Langdon, who as a Canadian MP, had direct experience with the legislation in Canada. Maybe it may assuage the concerns of those who, while accepting the need for a FOI, have been dragging their feet.
“Improved governance has become an important goal of state reform in recent years. International development theory has increasingly recognised that the effectiveness with which resources are allocated, the responsiveness to public priorities and the integrity of state financial systems are all fundamental to poverty reduction and economic development.
In turn, transparency has become a central defining characteristic of improved governance; open, participatory and accountable governments are what will help bring about stronger economic performance and greater social solidarity, by encouraging integrity and citizen engagement, thereby building the social capital that theorists like Robert Putnam identify as bringing communities together and making democracy work.
Yet transparency does not grow automatically. As the World Bank Institute has noted, “openness can be embarrassing for governments and public servants at times, but the record should suggest to political representatives that openness and transparency are also crucial in the areas of effective financial management, successful policy coordination, and integrity-building.”
The core thinking for FOI Laws is the philosophy that all governmental work and actions should be open to a country’s citizens, since those citizens represent the basis of the government; their full participation in all decision-making requires such access to complete information, and governments should be doing nothing that cannot be justified and explained openly.
This concept, it must be recognised, represents a complete turnaround in traditional concepts of governance that were based on state control over information, and the notion of an elite making decisions based on knowledge which cannot be shared with the public.
The new approach reflects Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in which the right to information is established as part of the guarantee of freedom of expression.
Article 19 ties Freedom of Information tightly to the most fundamental personal freedoms in the constellation of human rights, freedom of opinion and expression: “Everyone has the right to the freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
This represented the philosophic framework that justified the fight for access to information in Canada (and in many other countries). But political realism also requires coalition-building to achieve such a major reform, and that has been based on more pragmatic considerations.
In practical terms, the drive for FOI has come from a series of considerations such as media freedom, which generates considerable pressure to be able to access all available documents, so as to enforce accountability and explain decisions to readers.
There is the corporate sector that has often sought information on which to raise challenges to the increasing range of regulatory rulings to which firms are subject in addition to specific environmental considerations, with their complex analyses of effects and their webs of unexpected consequences.
The expansion of civil society groups in many societies has also led to increasingly organized efforts to influence decisions, and information access has been needed to succeed in those efforts.
While FOI Laws have not always been driven by anti-corruption concerns, they are seen to contribute strongly to action against corruption once established – in part by establishing principles of transparency and participation within society that in themselves counter corrupt practices, but also by establishing an important new weapon to use in revealing and attacking corrupt practices.”
It is our hope that some wider discussion on the right of citizens to freedom of information will be initiated so that there would not be so much fire and brimstone generated when the facts of a government disposal of the assets of the people are simply brought to light by the only method presently available: “leaks” of documents that should be public.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Peeping Tom - Doctor, doctor please, I need a heart transplant
Kaieteur News, July 14, 2008 | Features / Columnists > Peeping Tom
Peeping Tom - Doctor, doctor please, I need a heart transplant
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=2821
For close to two weeks, I, the Peeper have been exposing what I thought was a bad deal entered into between the Government and the investors at Sanata. I wrote my piece. I had my say. I knocked on the door of public opinion, and no one answered. I kept quiet after that.
However, I did upset a few persons. This newspaper is now paying dearly for those opinions. It is a price worth paying.
Freedom is something that must be valued, especially the right to free expression. I have no regrets about what I wrote, and I have said so. I was also encouraged to persevere when I was told that I was free to criticize those who did wrong.
I am in receipt of a great deal of information about that deal, about the background of some of those involved. Someone even emailed me an interesting document from Queens in New York about the Queens in Guyana. So I am aware of a number of things, a great number of things.
What I was not aware of was the fact that Cabinet had waived tender board procedures which allowed the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation to gain a significant foothold in the health sector. I did not know about this, and I must thank Chris Ram for highlighting it in his column yesterday in the Stabroek News.
I did not see the original report on this matter in that newspaper. But, when Ram mentioned it in his column yesterday, I immediately went in search of the article. What I read almost caused me to have a heart attack.
In fact, right now my heart is palpitating abnormally. I am also having problems breathing. The stress of that article is too much for me.
The gist of that article is that hundreds of millions of dollars in medical supplies are being purchased from the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation without any competitive bidding. Apparently, the health sector has been granted, by Cabinet, a standing waiver to allow it to make such purchases.
I am not satisfied with the explanation given to that newspaper by the Minister of Health. The minister is arguing that the arrangement is neither illegal nor irregular. He points to precedents whereby, in the past, medical supplies were sourced from the Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation.
What he should have mentioned was that, at the time, it was the Government’s policy to make all Government purchases, as far as possible, from State agencies; and at the time GPC was State-owned.
Any government keen on transparency would have allowed the procurement of drugs to go through a competitive process, rather than allowing one company to hog so much of Government purchasing. This is all the more so considering that the Government had passed a National Procurement Bill which sought to entrench transparency through a competitive process.
I believe something is radically wrong with the public procurement system when something like this could have happened.
It is simply inexplicable, and I call for a public inquiry into this matter. I also call on the international community which funds supplies to the health sector to be more rigorous and ensure that there is never any waiver of the tender board procedure for the supply of materials and drugs to the public health system in Guyana under any foreign -funded contract.
I am also making the point which I made before: no one company should be enjoying so much largesse from the State. It is inexplicable for one company to be supplying hundreds of millions of dollars in supplies to the health system, and to be paid on signing of the contract, without any competitive process. Such concessions are bound to give that company and unassailable advantage over others.
I wonder if the Government understands the implications of what they are doing. They are paying someone up-front for supplies which have to be made over a period of time.
That money could, therefore, then be invested and earn an interest to the investor, thus making State funds a form of cash-cow. This is a risk that must now be obviated.
I wonder if the public understands how the Government is managing State resources. The NGPC is owned by the principals of Queens Investment Inc.
The NGPC supplies hundreds of millions of dollars in drugs without having to go through a competitive process.
Queens Investment Inc, earlier this year, acquired rights to the Sanata Textile complex without also having to subject itself to a process of competitive bidding. What really is going on in Guyana? What the hell is really going on in Guyana?
This is giving me a headache. I need an aspirin. I wonder whether the NGPC is supplying the hospital with aspirin. I wonder what price they are charging the Government for aspirin. I am calling on the Government to make public the individual prices being charged for each item being supplied under this arrangement.
I want the Auditor General to sign off on these prices before they are made public. When the prices are made public, I will then ask local companies to say whether they can supply any of the items cheaper.
I know they say that aspirin is good for the heart; but, right now, I do not feel like drinking any aspirin that was supplied to the local health system without being subject to a competitive process. I will therefore have to ask the foreign doctors who recently performed the kidney transplant not to return home as yet.
The Peeper is not feeling too well, because of all that is being made public. Doctor, doctor please, I think I may need a heart transplant.
Peeping Tom - Doctor, doctor please, I need a heart transplant
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=2821
For close to two weeks, I, the Peeper have been exposing what I thought was a bad deal entered into between the Government and the investors at Sanata. I wrote my piece. I had my say. I knocked on the door of public opinion, and no one answered. I kept quiet after that.
However, I did upset a few persons. This newspaper is now paying dearly for those opinions. It is a price worth paying.
Freedom is something that must be valued, especially the right to free expression. I have no regrets about what I wrote, and I have said so. I was also encouraged to persevere when I was told that I was free to criticize those who did wrong.
I am in receipt of a great deal of information about that deal, about the background of some of those involved. Someone even emailed me an interesting document from Queens in New York about the Queens in Guyana. So I am aware of a number of things, a great number of things.
What I was not aware of was the fact that Cabinet had waived tender board procedures which allowed the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation to gain a significant foothold in the health sector. I did not know about this, and I must thank Chris Ram for highlighting it in his column yesterday in the Stabroek News.
I did not see the original report on this matter in that newspaper. But, when Ram mentioned it in his column yesterday, I immediately went in search of the article. What I read almost caused me to have a heart attack.
In fact, right now my heart is palpitating abnormally. I am also having problems breathing. The stress of that article is too much for me.
The gist of that article is that hundreds of millions of dollars in medical supplies are being purchased from the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation without any competitive bidding. Apparently, the health sector has been granted, by Cabinet, a standing waiver to allow it to make such purchases.
I am not satisfied with the explanation given to that newspaper by the Minister of Health. The minister is arguing that the arrangement is neither illegal nor irregular. He points to precedents whereby, in the past, medical supplies were sourced from the Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation.
What he should have mentioned was that, at the time, it was the Government’s policy to make all Government purchases, as far as possible, from State agencies; and at the time GPC was State-owned.
Any government keen on transparency would have allowed the procurement of drugs to go through a competitive process, rather than allowing one company to hog so much of Government purchasing. This is all the more so considering that the Government had passed a National Procurement Bill which sought to entrench transparency through a competitive process.
I believe something is radically wrong with the public procurement system when something like this could have happened.
It is simply inexplicable, and I call for a public inquiry into this matter. I also call on the international community which funds supplies to the health sector to be more rigorous and ensure that there is never any waiver of the tender board procedure for the supply of materials and drugs to the public health system in Guyana under any foreign -funded contract.
I am also making the point which I made before: no one company should be enjoying so much largesse from the State. It is inexplicable for one company to be supplying hundreds of millions of dollars in supplies to the health system, and to be paid on signing of the contract, without any competitive process. Such concessions are bound to give that company and unassailable advantage over others.
I wonder if the Government understands the implications of what they are doing. They are paying someone up-front for supplies which have to be made over a period of time.
That money could, therefore, then be invested and earn an interest to the investor, thus making State funds a form of cash-cow. This is a risk that must now be obviated.
I wonder if the public understands how the Government is managing State resources. The NGPC is owned by the principals of Queens Investment Inc.
The NGPC supplies hundreds of millions of dollars in drugs without having to go through a competitive process.
Queens Investment Inc, earlier this year, acquired rights to the Sanata Textile complex without also having to subject itself to a process of competitive bidding. What really is going on in Guyana? What the hell is really going on in Guyana?
This is giving me a headache. I need an aspirin. I wonder whether the NGPC is supplying the hospital with aspirin. I wonder what price they are charging the Government for aspirin. I am calling on the Government to make public the individual prices being charged for each item being supplied under this arrangement.
I want the Auditor General to sign off on these prices before they are made public. When the prices are made public, I will then ask local companies to say whether they can supply any of the items cheaper.
I know they say that aspirin is good for the heart; but, right now, I do not feel like drinking any aspirin that was supplied to the local health system without being subject to a competitive process. I will therefore have to ask the foreign doctors who recently performed the kidney transplant not to return home as yet.
The Peeper is not feeling too well, because of all that is being made public. Doctor, doctor please, I think I may need a heart transplant.
Essential truths
Essential truths
Stabroek News Editorial. Monday 14 July 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/editorial/essential-truths/
It usually takes crises to hammer home the essential truths. As we pointed out in an editorial of June 30 there have been three mass killings in six months that have claimed the lives of 31. Such carnage has not been seen in recent decades, not even in the aftermath of the 2002 jail-break.
Another essential truth that came to the fore last week was the recourse to forensics assistance from abroad. Guyana first tried with the United States. That as it turned out was a non-starter. Had it materialized it would have spared our blushes in more than one way. Having been turned down by Washington, Guyana then sought help from within its fellow Caricom countries: Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica. The requests to these three sister countries have been well received and Trinidad has already sent three investigators here. It must have dawned upon many here that the fact that these countries had within them the necessary capacity was an indictment of Guyana and the degradation and internal collapses that have pockmarked this country after decades of internecine political conflict. Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica have the capacity and expertise to thoroughly investigate crimes like that at Camp Lindo. Guyana does not. Who would have thought that in 2008, with the relatively superior education system that Guyana boasted compared to its fellow Caribbean countries during the 60s that we would be in this situation today?
The PPP/C government, in particular, has to answer inconvenient and uncomfortable questions about why Guyana is in the state of deprivation relative to forensics and pathology skills.
A new forensics lab for the local law enforcement agencies is on the cards but like with many other things the rate towards completion is pedestrian and the everlasting question is whether the relevant human resources can be trained and retained to run it and produce the desired results.
As far back as 1993 – months after it won the historic 1992 elections – the PPP/C had been advised by many following the horrendous murder of Monica Reece that it needed to revamp the police force, restore professionalism and provide it with the forensics and other tools needed for it to discharge its obligations.
It paid no heed to this. As a consequence, the quality of policing continued to deteriorate over successive PPP/C administrations and policing methods retained brutishness and brutality in many forms. Those features do not solve crimes like those of Reece much less Lindo Creek.
The well-received Symonds Report which was presented following a strategic review of the police force commissioned by the UK in October 2000 was not acted upon with any intent by those in authority. The Disciplined Forced Commission report which also comprehensively addressed many of the problems of the police force and law enforcement in general has been shabbily treated by Parliament and the government.
There has never been a more dire need for excellent forensics, pathology, investigative and intelligence-gathering skills than now. None of the three massacres this year has been adequately explained by those in authority and while several persons have been charged in relation to the Lusignan and Bartica mass killings doubts persist over the quality of the evidence that will be brought to bear. At the rate at which preliminary inquiries proceed, it can be many months before the evidence will be in the public domain in the High Court. Even committal to the High Court is not a guarantee that there will be a hearing. The quashing of the case last week in the High Court against two soldiers in the death of cadet Amar Rajcumar is a prime example of this.
The gruesome Camp Lindo killings and the possibility that elements of the security forces could have been involved have raised even more troubling questions which the law enforcers and the government have been hard-pressed to answer. Given the time that has elapsed and the weathering of the camp site one wonders what could possibly be retrieved from this investigation. If, however, this investigation does not yield answers, the security forces will be enshrouded in a pall of suspicion that will not redound to the interest of law and order.
As grateful as the country has been for the assistance from Trinidad and the others, it is about a month now since the eight men were killed at Camp Lindo and there is still very little in terms of elucidation.
It is to be deeply regretted that despite the unremitting pressure that the security forces have come under since 2002 that there is still to be a modern forensics lab, that there are inadequate numbers of skilled investigators here to handle events like the Camp Lindo probe and that after three massacres we are no closer to recounting with clarity and conviction who the perpetrators were, their motives and bringing them all to justice.
Stabroek News Editorial. Monday 14 July 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/editorial/essential-truths/
It usually takes crises to hammer home the essential truths. As we pointed out in an editorial of June 30 there have been three mass killings in six months that have claimed the lives of 31. Such carnage has not been seen in recent decades, not even in the aftermath of the 2002 jail-break.
Another essential truth that came to the fore last week was the recourse to forensics assistance from abroad. Guyana first tried with the United States. That as it turned out was a non-starter. Had it materialized it would have spared our blushes in more than one way. Having been turned down by Washington, Guyana then sought help from within its fellow Caricom countries: Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica. The requests to these three sister countries have been well received and Trinidad has already sent three investigators here. It must have dawned upon many here that the fact that these countries had within them the necessary capacity was an indictment of Guyana and the degradation and internal collapses that have pockmarked this country after decades of internecine political conflict. Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica have the capacity and expertise to thoroughly investigate crimes like that at Camp Lindo. Guyana does not. Who would have thought that in 2008, with the relatively superior education system that Guyana boasted compared to its fellow Caribbean countries during the 60s that we would be in this situation today?
The PPP/C government, in particular, has to answer inconvenient and uncomfortable questions about why Guyana is in the state of deprivation relative to forensics and pathology skills.
A new forensics lab for the local law enforcement agencies is on the cards but like with many other things the rate towards completion is pedestrian and the everlasting question is whether the relevant human resources can be trained and retained to run it and produce the desired results.
As far back as 1993 – months after it won the historic 1992 elections – the PPP/C had been advised by many following the horrendous murder of Monica Reece that it needed to revamp the police force, restore professionalism and provide it with the forensics and other tools needed for it to discharge its obligations.
It paid no heed to this. As a consequence, the quality of policing continued to deteriorate over successive PPP/C administrations and policing methods retained brutishness and brutality in many forms. Those features do not solve crimes like those of Reece much less Lindo Creek.
The well-received Symonds Report which was presented following a strategic review of the police force commissioned by the UK in October 2000 was not acted upon with any intent by those in authority. The Disciplined Forced Commission report which also comprehensively addressed many of the problems of the police force and law enforcement in general has been shabbily treated by Parliament and the government.
There has never been a more dire need for excellent forensics, pathology, investigative and intelligence-gathering skills than now. None of the three massacres this year has been adequately explained by those in authority and while several persons have been charged in relation to the Lusignan and Bartica mass killings doubts persist over the quality of the evidence that will be brought to bear. At the rate at which preliminary inquiries proceed, it can be many months before the evidence will be in the public domain in the High Court. Even committal to the High Court is not a guarantee that there will be a hearing. The quashing of the case last week in the High Court against two soldiers in the death of cadet Amar Rajcumar is a prime example of this.
The gruesome Camp Lindo killings and the possibility that elements of the security forces could have been involved have raised even more troubling questions which the law enforcers and the government have been hard-pressed to answer. Given the time that has elapsed and the weathering of the camp site one wonders what could possibly be retrieved from this investigation. If, however, this investigation does not yield answers, the security forces will be enshrouded in a pall of suspicion that will not redound to the interest of law and order.
As grateful as the country has been for the assistance from Trinidad and the others, it is about a month now since the eight men were killed at Camp Lindo and there is still very little in terms of elucidation.
It is to be deeply regretted that despite the unremitting pressure that the security forces have come under since 2002 that there is still to be a modern forensics lab, that there are inadequate numbers of skilled investigators here to handle events like the Camp Lindo probe and that after three massacres we are no closer to recounting with clarity and conviction who the perpetrators were, their motives and bringing them all to justice.
Drug purchases from NGPC superseded law –Murray
Drug purchases from NGPC superseded law –Murray
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News news item. Monday 14 July 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/drug-purchases-from-ngpc-superseded-law-%e2%80%93murray/
Any renewal of Cabinet’s decision to direct the Ministry of Health to purchase drugs directly from the New GPC and several international suppliers would be “wholly illegal and should not be tolerated”, PNCR-1G MP and member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Winston Murray says.
Winston Murray
Winston Murray
Asked whether he was satisfied with Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy’s response on the question of direct drug purchases from the New GPC, Murray told Stabroek News that it would be an illegal act for Cabinet to give any direction at this point in time.
“I would urge the Minister of Health rather than going to the Cabinet (that he should) try to follow the Procurement Act, which until the terms of the Act are changed, continues to be the basis for public procurement,” he said.
According to Murray, the Ministry of Health in 2005 bought over $550 million dollars worth of drugs commercially via the New GPC on the basis of a Cabinet decision taken in 2003. That decision directed them not to go out to international tender to get individual prices but to purchase through the New GPC. In this manner, the ministry has no opportunity to vet the prices and no opportunity to seek cheaper prices, he said.
Minister of Health, Dr Ramsammy at a press conference on Wednesday said the opposition MPs “grossly and mischievously misrepresented or misunderstood [the issue]”. He stated “unequivocally” that the Ministry of Health’s procurement of drugs and medical supplies was in compliance with Cabinet’s decision and in accordance with all laws and regulations and that the ministry’s procurement arrangements have been “rigidly scrutinised since 1992”.
The minister said that the Auditor General did not question the legality or appropriateness of the waiver arrangement granted by Cabinet in 1997 (for purchases from international agencies) and in 2003 (for purchases from NGPC) but acknowledged that the AG’s report did recommend that the two waiver decisions be renewed for continued purchases. The Auditor General’s report for 2004 had also recommended that the ministry advertise internationally every three years for the supply of drugs and medical supplies and pre-qualify suppliers.
Dr Ramsammy was on Wednesday reacting to an article published in Tuesday’s edition of Stabroek News in which AFC MP, David Patterson had contended that over the past 11 years the Ministry of Health made all local purchases from the New GPC with no public tendering and in contravention of the Public Procurement Act. The minister clarified that in relation to NGPC the waiver for direct purchases was granted in 2003 and not 1997. Ramsammy also noted at the press conference “Still, in order to avoid the perception of non-response by the Ministry of Health, we have requested a renewal of the decision permitting the Ministry of Health to procure medicine and commodities from IDA (International Dispensary Agency, Holland), PAHO/WHO, UNICEF and NGPC”. He also later emphasized that over the period from 2003, the ministry had also continued making purchases from overseas in addition to its NGPC acquisitions.
Stating that his ministry did not interpret Cabinet’s decision of 1997 to be time-bound and limited to purchases to that year, Ramsammy said Cabinet made the decision after he made a request to improve procurement and supplies to the health sector. His ministry also did not interpret the Cabinet decision in 2003 of a NGPC waiver to be time-bound.
Patterson, who said that in 2005 the contract was worth approximately $600 million, made the statements recently in the context of the New GPC being one of the subsidiaries of Queens Atlantic Investment Inc which saw several of its new planned investments being controversially granted tax concessions by the government recently.
Superseded
On Cabinet’s decision to direct the Ministry of Health to buy most of its drugs from the New GPC, Murray contended that up to 2003 the ministry might have acted properly under the authority of Cabinet but once the Procurement Act was passed that same year it superseded Cabinet’s decision.
“The Procurement Act is superior to any decision of the Cabinet. The Cabinet may take a decision to change the law and bring it to the National Assembly and the National Assembly may change the law but until the law is changed the Cabinet of this country is also subject to the law. That law explicitly states that before a public sector agency can go out on its own to purchase drugs using a mechanism of its own, it has to get a waiver from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). That board now oversees the procurement system until such time that a Public Procurement Commission is constituted,” he said.
Constitutional provision is made for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission but according to Murray, the “PPP is dragging its feet on (the establishment of the commission) but that is another issue.”
Murray said that at the minimum the Ministry of Health should seek a waiver from the NPTAB that would allow them to pursue an individual approach. Until then the ministry should be complying with the NPTAB requirement that it go out to competitive bidding. The bids are submitted to the NPTAB and based on the competitive bids received the board decides the source the drugs should be purchased from.
“It seems to me that Cabinet has created a niche for the New GPC to give them exclusive right so we don’t know what mark-ups apply to the drugs, we don’t know where they are sourcing them from…That is illegal.”
He noted that the issue surfaced during the last meeting of the PAC which dealt with the examination of the Auditor General’s report of the Ministry of Health for 2005 on the procurement practices of the ministry. He said there was concern that it was using a cabinet decision of 2003 which over the last five years has directed it to exclusively purchase drugs from the New GPC except for those drugs which have to be bought through multilateral agencies such as the World Health Organisation and some others.
Reacting to Ramsammy’s claim that the 1997 and 2003 waivers were not the first that the Guyana government entered into with the New GPC and that it was done prior to 1992 when the then Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation was the sole procurement agency for the health sector and that arrangement was suspended after 1993, Patterson said he was not interested in what happened before 1992 when there was no democracy as claimed by the current administration and there was no procurement act. It appears now, he said that there is “little difference between what obtained before 1992 and what obtains now,” he said.
While Ramsammy said procurement from local and overseas agencies were on a pay-first basis and payments to the New GPC were always secured through financial security arrangements, Murray reiterated a point made by Patterson that the PAC found instances of the ministry paying for drugs up front.
“I have never heard of this,” Murray said noting, however, that there were examples when in the same Auditor General’s report, the ministry also paid many days after delivery. “That is how you procure,” he said adding that, “I don’t know that we are to finance the cash flow needs of the corporation.”
Murray said that in such transactions they need to open letters of credit (LC) and when the goods arrive, are examined and approved only then they are paid for. Alternatively, he said that a LC that matures on the arrival of the goods and meets with approval could be opened but there should be no giving money upfront even before the goods arrive. “I can’t understand that. That is unheard of in terms of proper procurement practices,” he said.
In relation to Ramsammy’s statement that the New GPC facilitates storage for the ministry’s supplies with no additional cost, Murray said that the minister needs to come better. There was nothing wrong in giving out a contract in which even on the basis of an international competitive bid requires delivery staggered over more than one shipment.
He said the minister needs to produce an economic analysis that shows it was less economical to stagger shipments than to establish bonds for storage. “These statements cannot be made in the public domain and left there without the necessary back-up information to tell us he has done that and he has investigated that and he knows that to be so. In any case that does not excuse him or Cabinet breaching the law,” Murray charged.
Commenting on the minister’s remarks that the New GPC maintains stocks of several thousand items of raw and packaging materials so as to be able to fulfill orders in a timely manner, that it has not supplied any substandard drugs and that it produces a range of generic, over-the-counter and veterinary products, Patterson said that the ministry has no tendering practice to source drugs from other suppliers to know whether or not they could obtain the same drugs at a cheaper rate. “The Auditor General’s report has suggested that it could be done cheaper,” he said if it is put out to tender.
He said that the drugs the New GPC sources from outside are not exclusive and could be obtained by any of the local pharmacies.
In terms of the Minister saying that the New GPC was also attractive because of reduced shipping time, Patterson said that the minister’s statement was just a misnomer.
Patterson asked, “How could the minister know if the other shipping companies are reliable or not when over the past (five) years he was going solely to the New GPC?”
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News news item. Monday 14 July 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/drug-purchases-from-ngpc-superseded-law-%e2%80%93murray/
Any renewal of Cabinet’s decision to direct the Ministry of Health to purchase drugs directly from the New GPC and several international suppliers would be “wholly illegal and should not be tolerated”, PNCR-1G MP and member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Winston Murray says.
Winston Murray
Winston Murray
Asked whether he was satisfied with Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy’s response on the question of direct drug purchases from the New GPC, Murray told Stabroek News that it would be an illegal act for Cabinet to give any direction at this point in time.
“I would urge the Minister of Health rather than going to the Cabinet (that he should) try to follow the Procurement Act, which until the terms of the Act are changed, continues to be the basis for public procurement,” he said.
According to Murray, the Ministry of Health in 2005 bought over $550 million dollars worth of drugs commercially via the New GPC on the basis of a Cabinet decision taken in 2003. That decision directed them not to go out to international tender to get individual prices but to purchase through the New GPC. In this manner, the ministry has no opportunity to vet the prices and no opportunity to seek cheaper prices, he said.
Minister of Health, Dr Ramsammy at a press conference on Wednesday said the opposition MPs “grossly and mischievously misrepresented or misunderstood [the issue]”. He stated “unequivocally” that the Ministry of Health’s procurement of drugs and medical supplies was in compliance with Cabinet’s decision and in accordance with all laws and regulations and that the ministry’s procurement arrangements have been “rigidly scrutinised since 1992”.
The minister said that the Auditor General did not question the legality or appropriateness of the waiver arrangement granted by Cabinet in 1997 (for purchases from international agencies) and in 2003 (for purchases from NGPC) but acknowledged that the AG’s report did recommend that the two waiver decisions be renewed for continued purchases. The Auditor General’s report for 2004 had also recommended that the ministry advertise internationally every three years for the supply of drugs and medical supplies and pre-qualify suppliers.
Dr Ramsammy was on Wednesday reacting to an article published in Tuesday’s edition of Stabroek News in which AFC MP, David Patterson had contended that over the past 11 years the Ministry of Health made all local purchases from the New GPC with no public tendering and in contravention of the Public Procurement Act. The minister clarified that in relation to NGPC the waiver for direct purchases was granted in 2003 and not 1997. Ramsammy also noted at the press conference “Still, in order to avoid the perception of non-response by the Ministry of Health, we have requested a renewal of the decision permitting the Ministry of Health to procure medicine and commodities from IDA (International Dispensary Agency, Holland), PAHO/WHO, UNICEF and NGPC”. He also later emphasized that over the period from 2003, the ministry had also continued making purchases from overseas in addition to its NGPC acquisitions.
Stating that his ministry did not interpret Cabinet’s decision of 1997 to be time-bound and limited to purchases to that year, Ramsammy said Cabinet made the decision after he made a request to improve procurement and supplies to the health sector. His ministry also did not interpret the Cabinet decision in 2003 of a NGPC waiver to be time-bound.
Patterson, who said that in 2005 the contract was worth approximately $600 million, made the statements recently in the context of the New GPC being one of the subsidiaries of Queens Atlantic Investment Inc which saw several of its new planned investments being controversially granted tax concessions by the government recently.
Superseded
On Cabinet’s decision to direct the Ministry of Health to buy most of its drugs from the New GPC, Murray contended that up to 2003 the ministry might have acted properly under the authority of Cabinet but once the Procurement Act was passed that same year it superseded Cabinet’s decision.
“The Procurement Act is superior to any decision of the Cabinet. The Cabinet may take a decision to change the law and bring it to the National Assembly and the National Assembly may change the law but until the law is changed the Cabinet of this country is also subject to the law. That law explicitly states that before a public sector agency can go out on its own to purchase drugs using a mechanism of its own, it has to get a waiver from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). That board now oversees the procurement system until such time that a Public Procurement Commission is constituted,” he said.
Constitutional provision is made for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission but according to Murray, the “PPP is dragging its feet on (the establishment of the commission) but that is another issue.”
Murray said that at the minimum the Ministry of Health should seek a waiver from the NPTAB that would allow them to pursue an individual approach. Until then the ministry should be complying with the NPTAB requirement that it go out to competitive bidding. The bids are submitted to the NPTAB and based on the competitive bids received the board decides the source the drugs should be purchased from.
“It seems to me that Cabinet has created a niche for the New GPC to give them exclusive right so we don’t know what mark-ups apply to the drugs, we don’t know where they are sourcing them from…That is illegal.”
He noted that the issue surfaced during the last meeting of the PAC which dealt with the examination of the Auditor General’s report of the Ministry of Health for 2005 on the procurement practices of the ministry. He said there was concern that it was using a cabinet decision of 2003 which over the last five years has directed it to exclusively purchase drugs from the New GPC except for those drugs which have to be bought through multilateral agencies such as the World Health Organisation and some others.
Reacting to Ramsammy’s claim that the 1997 and 2003 waivers were not the first that the Guyana government entered into with the New GPC and that it was done prior to 1992 when the then Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation was the sole procurement agency for the health sector and that arrangement was suspended after 1993, Patterson said he was not interested in what happened before 1992 when there was no democracy as claimed by the current administration and there was no procurement act. It appears now, he said that there is “little difference between what obtained before 1992 and what obtains now,” he said.
While Ramsammy said procurement from local and overseas agencies were on a pay-first basis and payments to the New GPC were always secured through financial security arrangements, Murray reiterated a point made by Patterson that the PAC found instances of the ministry paying for drugs up front.
“I have never heard of this,” Murray said noting, however, that there were examples when in the same Auditor General’s report, the ministry also paid many days after delivery. “That is how you procure,” he said adding that, “I don’t know that we are to finance the cash flow needs of the corporation.”
Murray said that in such transactions they need to open letters of credit (LC) and when the goods arrive, are examined and approved only then they are paid for. Alternatively, he said that a LC that matures on the arrival of the goods and meets with approval could be opened but there should be no giving money upfront even before the goods arrive. “I can’t understand that. That is unheard of in terms of proper procurement practices,” he said.
In relation to Ramsammy’s statement that the New GPC facilitates storage for the ministry’s supplies with no additional cost, Murray said that the minister needs to come better. There was nothing wrong in giving out a contract in which even on the basis of an international competitive bid requires delivery staggered over more than one shipment.
He said the minister needs to produce an economic analysis that shows it was less economical to stagger shipments than to establish bonds for storage. “These statements cannot be made in the public domain and left there without the necessary back-up information to tell us he has done that and he has investigated that and he knows that to be so. In any case that does not excuse him or Cabinet breaching the law,” Murray charged.
Commenting on the minister’s remarks that the New GPC maintains stocks of several thousand items of raw and packaging materials so as to be able to fulfill orders in a timely manner, that it has not supplied any substandard drugs and that it produces a range of generic, over-the-counter and veterinary products, Patterson said that the ministry has no tendering practice to source drugs from other suppliers to know whether or not they could obtain the same drugs at a cheaper rate. “The Auditor General’s report has suggested that it could be done cheaper,” he said if it is put out to tender.
He said that the drugs the New GPC sources from outside are not exclusive and could be obtained by any of the local pharmacies.
In terms of the Minister saying that the New GPC was also attractive because of reduced shipping time, Patterson said that the minister’s statement was just a misnomer.
Patterson asked, “How could the minister know if the other shipping companies are reliable or not when over the past (five) years he was going solely to the New GPC?”
Kaieteur News. Monday July 14, 2008 | Editorial
Kaieteur News. Monday July 14, 2008 | Editorial
You can’t blow out a fire
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=2828
You can blow out a candle
But you can’t blow out a fire.
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
- Peter Gabriel, Biko
It has been said that genuine news is something somebody somewhere doesn’t want you to know: everything else is just PR. In our reporting of the news over the decade and a half that we have been in existence, we have come to appreciate the truth of that aphorism.
There is hardly a day that goes by when we do not receive a call from some individual or organisation complaining that a report of ours had embarrassed them. But, as a newspaper, we hold it as our sacred duty, in the common parlance, to “call it as we see it.”
We have always known that, by taking this approach, and refusing to be a PR vehicle for any entrenched interest, there were risks involved – from governments, political parties, corporations or assorted “shady characters”.
And we have paid the price. We only have to mention the fire that gutted our press and the massacre of five of our pressmen: many have told us that these brutal incidents were precipitated because we’re seen as “pro-government”.
Today, the wind – a very powerful wind – is blowing from another direction, and once again it is simply because we have stood firmly by our credo to report the news and just the news. But, as the song quoted above about the South African freedom fighter Stephen Biko proclaimed, the wind will only serve to enlarge the flame of our resolution to stick to the responsibilities that go with the credo: freedom of the press.
But let us make this clear – we are not saying that Guyana does not have freedom of the press. If this were not so, then we would not see the lampooning and skewering of some of the “big ones”.
But what we detect is a gradual tightening of the screws in insidious ways against those who insist on maintaining an independent viewpoint. And this is a very slippery slope.
A former President of ours, who knew a thing or two about muzzling the press, once famously remarked that there are many ways to skin a cat, and he graphically went on to illustrate the gravamen of his remark: you can give it mange; you can wring its neck, or you could skin it etc.
Today the abuse of administrative procedures is deployed to harass those who hold a different viewpoint than the powers that be. We are also witnessing the creation and support of new medium to guarantee that only PR brochures will be transmitted to the people. Coupled with the harassment of other media, one has to ask, “Where are we? At the mange stage?”
We want to remind those who appear to have forgotten that the free press was born as part and parcel of the modern flowering of democracy. From all the evidence, it does not appear that the latter can take root and survive without the former.
Power, and its inevitable corrupting effect on those who are voted into office, demands that the people, in whose hands ultimate sovereignty lie, must be given adequate information to make informed decisions. This is what will make those decisions “democratic”.
In 1993, the United Nations gave recognition to the pivotal role of a free press in the sustenance of good governance by declaring every May 3rd as “World Press Freedom Day”.
It is in that same month that we also celebrate our independence from the yoke of foreign rule. But if our people are denied the multiplicity of views that is the hallmark of a vibrant democracy then we are dooming them to a more invidious yoke of oppression from the vacuum of information that would stifle their minds.
We understand that with all freedoms, including freedom of the press, come responsibility: freedom of the press does not mean license. There are laws on the books to prosecute those who violate that freedom.
If there is anything that we have printed that is not factual, then we ask those who are affected to bring this to our attention and we will offer our unqualified apology or face the legal consequences. Otherwise, let us do our duty to inform the people. It is the truth that will set us all free.
You can’t blow out a fire
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=2828
You can blow out a candle
But you can’t blow out a fire.
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
- Peter Gabriel, Biko
It has been said that genuine news is something somebody somewhere doesn’t want you to know: everything else is just PR. In our reporting of the news over the decade and a half that we have been in existence, we have come to appreciate the truth of that aphorism.
There is hardly a day that goes by when we do not receive a call from some individual or organisation complaining that a report of ours had embarrassed them. But, as a newspaper, we hold it as our sacred duty, in the common parlance, to “call it as we see it.”
We have always known that, by taking this approach, and refusing to be a PR vehicle for any entrenched interest, there were risks involved – from governments, political parties, corporations or assorted “shady characters”.
And we have paid the price. We only have to mention the fire that gutted our press and the massacre of five of our pressmen: many have told us that these brutal incidents were precipitated because we’re seen as “pro-government”.
Today, the wind – a very powerful wind – is blowing from another direction, and once again it is simply because we have stood firmly by our credo to report the news and just the news. But, as the song quoted above about the South African freedom fighter Stephen Biko proclaimed, the wind will only serve to enlarge the flame of our resolution to stick to the responsibilities that go with the credo: freedom of the press.
But let us make this clear – we are not saying that Guyana does not have freedom of the press. If this were not so, then we would not see the lampooning and skewering of some of the “big ones”.
But what we detect is a gradual tightening of the screws in insidious ways against those who insist on maintaining an independent viewpoint. And this is a very slippery slope.
A former President of ours, who knew a thing or two about muzzling the press, once famously remarked that there are many ways to skin a cat, and he graphically went on to illustrate the gravamen of his remark: you can give it mange; you can wring its neck, or you could skin it etc.
Today the abuse of administrative procedures is deployed to harass those who hold a different viewpoint than the powers that be. We are also witnessing the creation and support of new medium to guarantee that only PR brochures will be transmitted to the people. Coupled with the harassment of other media, one has to ask, “Where are we? At the mange stage?”
We want to remind those who appear to have forgotten that the free press was born as part and parcel of the modern flowering of democracy. From all the evidence, it does not appear that the latter can take root and survive without the former.
Power, and its inevitable corrupting effect on those who are voted into office, demands that the people, in whose hands ultimate sovereignty lie, must be given adequate information to make informed decisions. This is what will make those decisions “democratic”.
In 1993, the United Nations gave recognition to the pivotal role of a free press in the sustenance of good governance by declaring every May 3rd as “World Press Freedom Day”.
It is in that same month that we also celebrate our independence from the yoke of foreign rule. But if our people are denied the multiplicity of views that is the hallmark of a vibrant democracy then we are dooming them to a more invidious yoke of oppression from the vacuum of information that would stifle their minds.
We understand that with all freedoms, including freedom of the press, come responsibility: freedom of the press does not mean license. There are laws on the books to prosecute those who violate that freedom.
If there is anything that we have printed that is not factual, then we ask those who are affected to bring this to our attention and we will offer our unqualified apology or face the legal consequences. Otherwise, let us do our duty to inform the people. It is the truth that will set us all free.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Safeek charged with “falsifying a declaration to customs” -granted $2M bail
Safeek charged with “falsifying a declaration to customs” -granted $2M bail
Guyana Times. Thursday, 10 July 2008 23:12 Theleisha De Souza
http://www.guyanatimesgy.com/court/courts/68-court/230-safeek-charged-with-falsifying-a-declaration-to-customs-granted-2m-bail.html
Joshua Safeek, one of the men accused of being at the centre of the Polar Beer corruption case, was granted bail in the sum of $2M after he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates Court yesterday charged with “Falsifying a declaration to customs.”
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) had filed the charge under the Customs Act against Fidelity Investments Inc for making the false
declaration for a shipment of Polar Beer last month after the company was the subject of an investigation into the evasion of customs duties.
According to the police, it is alleged that on or around June 25 2008, Joshua Safeek willfully used a fake document that was required by the customs laws, and purported it to be an invoice that was delivered from Polar Beverages Inc, which is located in Avenue De los Corlijos De Lourdes in Caracas, Venezuela.
The invoice was reportedly given to the GRA for the assessment of duties and taxes payable on goods imported. Fidelity said that it paid $8.7M in duties for the shipment of beer.
The matter was heard before Principal Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle where 43-year-old Safeek, an investor at SAFICO, denied the allegations that were made against him.
The accused was represented by Attorney-at-Law Hukumchand, and the matter will be heard again on September 12 in Court 6.
Another person who was jointly charged with Safeek for being instrumental in falsifying the document for Fidelity Investments Inc did not make an appearance in court yesterday.
In a prior statement, GRA’s legal officer and prosecutor in the case, Gino Persaud, said that two weeks ago, Customs seized two containers of Polar Beer after it was found that the value of the commodity was way below what Customs had accepted last year for the very commodity.
As a result of this most recent accusation, Fidelity Investment Inc on Wednesday responded by saying that the Commissioner General of GRA Khurshid Sattaur was trying to tarnish the image of the company.
The company accused the GRA head of trying to cover for “corrupt” customs officers involved in the polar beer scam. Officers of the GRA are currently involved in another investigation of the company which is similar in nature: customs duties were evaded through alleged false commodity declaration.
The customs agent reportedly struck a deal with customs officers to clear the Polar Beer under the category of ‘assorted soft drinks’, which attracts less duty than beer. The sum of $32M was then paid to the revenue body in taxes and another $70M was paid to a top customs official who allowed the shipment to leave the wharf.
According to a statement by the company which was read to reporters at Cara Lodge, this is the third time that Mr Safeek and his companies have been charged by Mr Sattaur.
In 2007, the company started importing Polar Beer from Venezuela at what it referred to as an introductory price in order to compete with the smuggled Polar Beer.
Guyana Times. Thursday, 10 July 2008 23:12 Theleisha De Souza
http://www.guyanatimesgy.com/court/courts/68-court/230-safeek-charged-with-falsifying-a-declaration-to-customs-granted-2m-bail.html
Joshua Safeek, one of the men accused of being at the centre of the Polar Beer corruption case, was granted bail in the sum of $2M after he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates Court yesterday charged with “Falsifying a declaration to customs.”
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) had filed the charge under the Customs Act against Fidelity Investments Inc for making the false
declaration for a shipment of Polar Beer last month after the company was the subject of an investigation into the evasion of customs duties.
According to the police, it is alleged that on or around June 25 2008, Joshua Safeek willfully used a fake document that was required by the customs laws, and purported it to be an invoice that was delivered from Polar Beverages Inc, which is located in Avenue De los Corlijos De Lourdes in Caracas, Venezuela.
The invoice was reportedly given to the GRA for the assessment of duties and taxes payable on goods imported. Fidelity said that it paid $8.7M in duties for the shipment of beer.
The matter was heard before Principal Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle where 43-year-old Safeek, an investor at SAFICO, denied the allegations that were made against him.
The accused was represented by Attorney-at-Law Hukumchand, and the matter will be heard again on September 12 in Court 6.
Another person who was jointly charged with Safeek for being instrumental in falsifying the document for Fidelity Investments Inc did not make an appearance in court yesterday.
In a prior statement, GRA’s legal officer and prosecutor in the case, Gino Persaud, said that two weeks ago, Customs seized two containers of Polar Beer after it was found that the value of the commodity was way below what Customs had accepted last year for the very commodity.
As a result of this most recent accusation, Fidelity Investment Inc on Wednesday responded by saying that the Commissioner General of GRA Khurshid Sattaur was trying to tarnish the image of the company.
The company accused the GRA head of trying to cover for “corrupt” customs officers involved in the polar beer scam. Officers of the GRA are currently involved in another investigation of the company which is similar in nature: customs duties were evaded through alleged false commodity declaration.
The customs agent reportedly struck a deal with customs officers to clear the Polar Beer under the category of ‘assorted soft drinks’, which attracts less duty than beer. The sum of $32M was then paid to the revenue body in taxes and another $70M was paid to a top customs official who allowed the shipment to leave the wharf.
According to a statement by the company which was read to reporters at Cara Lodge, this is the third time that Mr Safeek and his companies have been charged by Mr Sattaur.
In 2007, the company started importing Polar Beer from Venezuela at what it referred to as an introductory price in order to compete with the smuggled Polar Beer.
Corbin calls for independent probe into prisoner’s death
Corbin calls for independent probe into prisoner’s death
Kaieteur News news item. Sunday July 13, 2008 | News
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=2796
Dead: Edwin Niles
-says he is convinced inmate was tortured by members of security forces
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin yesterday called for an independent investigation into the death of prisoner Edwin Niles, whom he believes was tortured by members of the security forces.
Relatives of the dead inmate made the same plea yesterday while slamming Prison officials for giving them scant information on the circumstances that led to Niles’s demise.
“All information that I have received clearly indicates that he (Niles) was beaten and tortured by officers from the Georgetown Prison and from Brickdam (Police Station), and there should be an investigation,” he told Kaieteur News.
The Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) says that he was informed that Niles was beaten with a stick and rubber hose.
Niles had also reportedly told a relative that he was scalded with hot water, while his mother — Brenda Welcome-Nurse — claimed that prison officials told her that her son was injured during an altercation with other prison officers.
“It is clear that …they were carrying out an investigation into the bullets (found on Niles) and they tortured him, and all of this adds to the list of independent inquiries that they should have into the operations of the security forces.”
Corbin says that the nation has lost confidence in the administration to mount impartial investigations, “and that is a very dangerous situation.”
Police officials have repeatedly told this newspaper that Niles was already injured when prison officials brought him to the Brickdam Police Station for questioning.
They say that a doctor ordered them to take the injured man to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
When asked about Niles’s death, Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine, assured Kaieteur News yesterday that prison officials were issuing a statement on the matter.
Meanwhile, Niles’s relatives also expressed doubt that the security services could mount an impartial investigation when fingers were being pointed at them.
“We want an independent investigation. We don’t want someone else going through what he (Niles) went through. He was not a notorious prisoner,” one relative said.
Niles’s mother, Brenda Welcome-Nurse, and other relatives learnt of his death at around 23:00 hrs on Friday night after a hospital staffer requested that they come to the hospital urgently.
When they arrived at the institution, they were informed that Niles had died and he was already wrapped in a sheet.
Niles’s mother and sister had also visited the institution at around 17:45 hrs after being informed that he was unwell.
According to Mrs. Nurse, she observed two prison officers pushing Niles in a wheelchair to his bed.
However, as on previous occasions, the family members were not allowed to speak to him.
Mrs. Nurse says that a female prison officer contacted her by telephone at around 14:00 hrs yesterday to inform her that her son had died. But by then she had known hours earlier.
Niles was admitted to hospital with a broken arm and burns on his back about a week ago, after being questioned about seven .22 rounds of ammunition that were found in a pair of trousers he was wearing.
There are reports that he picked up an old pair of army trousers while he and other inmates were sent to work at Camp Ayanganna, and that the ammunition was in one of the pockets.
A hospital statement had indicated that Niles was beaten by other inmates.
Several ranks from the Guyana Defence Force have also been questioned to ascertain how Niles acquired the ammunition.
Kaieteur News news item. Sunday July 13, 2008 | News
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=2796
Dead: Edwin Niles
-says he is convinced inmate was tortured by members of security forces
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin yesterday called for an independent investigation into the death of prisoner Edwin Niles, whom he believes was tortured by members of the security forces.
Relatives of the dead inmate made the same plea yesterday while slamming Prison officials for giving them scant information on the circumstances that led to Niles’s demise.
“All information that I have received clearly indicates that he (Niles) was beaten and tortured by officers from the Georgetown Prison and from Brickdam (Police Station), and there should be an investigation,” he told Kaieteur News.
The Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) says that he was informed that Niles was beaten with a stick and rubber hose.
Niles had also reportedly told a relative that he was scalded with hot water, while his mother — Brenda Welcome-Nurse — claimed that prison officials told her that her son was injured during an altercation with other prison officers.
“It is clear that …they were carrying out an investigation into the bullets (found on Niles) and they tortured him, and all of this adds to the list of independent inquiries that they should have into the operations of the security forces.”
Corbin says that the nation has lost confidence in the administration to mount impartial investigations, “and that is a very dangerous situation.”
Police officials have repeatedly told this newspaper that Niles was already injured when prison officials brought him to the Brickdam Police Station for questioning.
They say that a doctor ordered them to take the injured man to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
When asked about Niles’s death, Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine, assured Kaieteur News yesterday that prison officials were issuing a statement on the matter.
Meanwhile, Niles’s relatives also expressed doubt that the security services could mount an impartial investigation when fingers were being pointed at them.
“We want an independent investigation. We don’t want someone else going through what he (Niles) went through. He was not a notorious prisoner,” one relative said.
Niles’s mother, Brenda Welcome-Nurse, and other relatives learnt of his death at around 23:00 hrs on Friday night after a hospital staffer requested that they come to the hospital urgently.
When they arrived at the institution, they were informed that Niles had died and he was already wrapped in a sheet.
Niles’s mother and sister had also visited the institution at around 17:45 hrs after being informed that he was unwell.
According to Mrs. Nurse, she observed two prison officers pushing Niles in a wheelchair to his bed.
However, as on previous occasions, the family members were not allowed to speak to him.
Mrs. Nurse says that a female prison officer contacted her by telephone at around 14:00 hrs yesterday to inform her that her son had died. But by then she had known hours earlier.
Niles was admitted to hospital with a broken arm and burns on his back about a week ago, after being questioned about seven .22 rounds of ammunition that were found in a pair of trousers he was wearing.
There are reports that he picked up an old pair of army trousers while he and other inmates were sent to work at Camp Ayanganna, and that the ammunition was in one of the pockets.
A hospital statement had indicated that Niles was beaten by other inmates.
Several ranks from the Guyana Defence Force have also been questioned to ascertain how Niles acquired the ammunition.
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