AG on UNC threat of no parliamentary support: What’s new?

RESPONDING to threats on Sunday from the Opposition to not support any government until the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act is returned to its original form, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi simply shrugged and asked, “What’s new?”

“Senator (Wade) Mark’s track record will show that he says no to everything and has not supported the laws brought forward by the Government,” Al-Rawi said at a news conference on Monday.

He said it was par for the course for the Opposition to oppose any law that government presents, and cited the gaming bill and the anti-gang bill, which was first passed by a UNC government, as well as others.

“The Opposition, in saying no, has demonstrated that they are not in Parliament to support anything and, therefore, the Government accepts that it will not be receiving any support from the UNC on anything, full-stop.”

On Sunday at a news conference in Port of Spain, Mark knocked the new procurement legislation saying government removed oversight by an independent body of any transaction involving the sale and disposal of TT’s assets.

Columnist Afra Raymond wrote in a newspaper on Monday that the amendments would also give rise to a situation where local contractors not engaging in public/private partnerships would be under the oversight of the Office of Procurement Legislation, while government-to-government partnerships would be exempt.

Al-Rawi said both Raymond and Mark’s statements were wrong. He condemned Mark’s statements outright and called on journalists to fact-check statements made by the Opposition.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I urge you to simply look at the public procurement law. The definition of public procurement includes procurement that involves assets, public property, real or personal property owned by a public body.

“The website of the Office of the Procurement Regulator has handbooks in draft form where the issue of disposal of public assets is covered. It is, therefore, ridiculous and irresponsible of the elected opposition in this country to send forward spokesmen for this.”

He said government included a part six which included a new section for the disposal of state lands. Government, he said, went a step further and published regulations for the disposal of real property owned by the government, real property owned by state-controlled enterprises, and real property owned by statutory bodies.

Al-Rawi added, while the bill had been passed in the Senate on December 8, Government is only part of the framework needed for proper procurement legislation to be implemented.

He said the act requires that regulations be made by the Office of the Procurement Regulator, inclusive of regulations with respect to the conduct of challenge proceedings under part five of the act.

“When public procurement is engaged, anyone who is not the winner of a public procurement has a right to challenge the proceedings. A review board is required. (It) requires an office, staff, processes, a system of filing, a hearing schedule – all these things have to be put in place. In other words then, that review process requires a form of a court.

“Until those regulations are produced and the processes have been mapped, there can be no effective operationalisation of the procurement laws.”

He also responded to Raymond's statements that local businesses not involved in public/private partnerships with government would be subject to procurement law, and government-to-government transactions would be exempt.

“This act applies to public bodies and public/private partnership arrangements,” Al-Rawi said, quoting from section seven of the act.

He highlighted the exceptions to regulations which will be imposed by the act including conflicts which arose out of obligations of the State, arising out of a treaty or another form of agreement to which TT is a party, an agreement entered into by the government of TT with an international financial institution, or government-to-government arrangements.