The company SIS and its various incarnations of associate companies has been very successful in winning the awards of numerous contracts since this administration came into power just over four years ago.I find it very interesting that this one company and its associate groups could be so well qualified (or maybe extremely lucky), to be the preferred bidder with such regularity, above and beyond other competing companies, in their bids for government contracts.
It has now been reported that they are seeking to outsource part of the contract for the billion-dollar Beetham Waste Water Treatment Plant that they recently beat out all other competitors for even though they were said to be about $400 million more than the next closest bidder.If all these contracts were awarded at arms-length then kudos to SIS and its associates. However, if this is not so then the Integrity Commission (IC) therefore has a duty to investigate the award of all these contracts in the public's interest, to secure the public purse and to bring the necessary legal sanctions against any errant officials.
But I am afraid that my call to the IC might be in vain. I sometimes wonder if members of the IC live here. If they do not read or see the news like everybody else.With all the allegations of wrong-doing by officials of this government reported over the past few years, no one has been called to answer to date. Why do they seem to be waiting until a matter is specifically reported to them to take any investigative action, when their legal mandate allows them to act on their own.The IC needs to stop being an armchair institution and to begin to aggressively act on behalf of the public. They were not put there to be in fear of or to be liked by public and governmental officials.
M Baptiste
Couva