Time to proclaim procurement act

THE EDITOR: Thirty-nine billion dollars lost. Imagine what the TTPS and the judiciary could have done with that money to fight crime.

A conservative $5.2 billion a year could be saved by this country if only we had proper procurement practices.

$5.2 billion lost to corruption and inefficiency. Multiply that by seven and a half years – the length of time the PNM has been sitting on ready legislation, simply needing to be operationalised.

What could the TTPS and the judiciary have done with $39 billion towards fighting crime? Restorative justice, prevention from a life of crime in the first place through sports, culture and education.

Just imagine the number of programmes that could be implemented with an additional $39 billion.

Chairman and regulator of the Office of Procurement Regulation, Moonilal Lalchan, is of the opinion that the savings alone should drive the Government to seek full proclamation of the Pub­lic Pro­cure­ment and Disposal of Public Property Act as soon as possible.

At a time when revenue from oil is down and a global pandemic has created extra challenges, one has to ask: why isn't the Government rushing to operationalise this legislation?

Lalchan has asked the Government to give the legislation a chance. Based on all his public utterances, he does not believe the legislation needs any more tweaking and seems to be almost begging on bended knees for him and his team to get to work.

Interestingly, the chairman mentioned that WASA and T&TEC were among some 170 agencies that reached out for guidance with their best-practice handbooks, even in the absence of full proclamation.

So clearly the public service is on board with change and ready for best practice.

Why is PM Keith Rowley so bent on delaying legislation that can make bid rigging a thing of the past?

Why is Marvin Gonzales not imploring his political leader to explore this as an option to improve the public utilities' efficiency, before further stressing citizens with rate increases?

Legislation may not occupy your time as a citizen, but home invasions, shootings while you drink coffee and violent robberies while you shop, we can all agree, seem to be at the forefront of all of our minds and $39 billion can go a very long way in resourcing the TTPS and the judiciary.

$39 billion can ensure we have CCTV cameras at every street corner. $39 billion can ensure we have working police vehicles to patrol our communities. $39 billion can ensure we get into communities and give these young men a viable alternative to crime. $39 billion can be used to help invest in their dreams, train them, equip them, validate them and get them off the streets. $39 billion can ensure that DNA samples do not take years to process. $39 billion can assist in subsidising an abnormally high cost of living.

Come on, TT, it's time we demand the full proclamation of the procurement legislation and get to making this country work again.

MARSHA WALKER

UNC senator