Deputy chairman of Procurement Board resigns

James Chang Kit has tendered his resignation as deputy chairman of the Procurement Regulation board, following what he claims was the “final emasculation” of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act, 2015 by the Government.

JOEL JULIEN

James Chang Kit has tendered his resignation as deputy chairman of the Procurement Regulation board, following what he claims was the “final emasculation” of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act, 2015 by the Government.

The resignation is with immediate effect.

The latest amendment to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act was assented to by President Paula-Mae Weekes on December 27, 2020.

“The two prior amendments in 2016 and 2017 had an initial damaging effect on the recruitment process for a Regulator and the operation of the parent Act and signalled the Government’s reluctance for proper procurement oversight,” Chang Kit stated.

Moonilal Lachan, Chairman of the Board of Procurement Regulation. (Image courtesy Office of Procurement Regulation)

“The subsequent stalling and stymying of our efforts to have the necessary Regulations proclaimed as we went through the many challenges to our jurisdiction, interminable reviews and subtle attacks brought on by the Government via its agents in state enterprises, Minister of Finance and Attorney General both subtle and frontal, underwrote its reluctance for proper oversight of its spending,” he stated.

Chang Kit said the “relative silence and acquiescence of the society and some members of our Board in accepting this sorry state of affairs in a fast dwindling and bankrupt economy” had driven him to despair.