An historic moment took place in the Senate this week when Planning and Sustainable Development Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie was able to secure the unanimous approval of the Senate for the long-awaited procurement legislation.
This has not been an easy road, as the legislation had to jump several hurdles involving political challenges, from the Opposition being unhappy with it two years ago to the most recent stakeholder discontent involving the Joint Consultative Council and Dr Tewarie over certain sections of the bill that arose on the eve of the debate in the Senate.To his credit, Dr Tewarie did not take an uncompromising hard line against those stakeholders who had concerns with the bill, but engaged them in dialogue and discussion that yielded results.
If there is one example of how our legislative process can work in an optimal fashion, it was the handling of this procurement legislation in the Senate.Perhaps it is best that this particular piece of legislation got that kind of cross-party treatment in the Senate whereby the final vote revealed unanimity across the board between Government, Opposition and Independent Senators. For a developing country this legislation will define the roadmap to further development with an improved framework where procurement is concerned.
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