Tweet
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Public service hero Greg Christie is Man of the Year</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Ken Chaplin
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Many Jamaicans cannot remember a public official over the past 50 years who has won the support of large cross sections of the population for performing his difficult and delicate job so well.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Ken Chaplin </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>That official Greg Christie, contractor-general since last December, stands out like a giant. On the other hand, some high-ranking parliamentarians of the ruling People's National Party broke ground this year as seen by the vehemence with which they attacked Christie and tried to undermine his authority. This is surprising because the contractor-general falls under an independent commission of Parliament which stands above politics. It was established in l986.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The paramount objective of the Office of the Contractor-General (OCG) is to ensure that the public sector procurement process delivers value to the taxpayer, is free from corruption, impropriety and irregularity and is transparent, impartial, competitive, fair, efficient and effective. The OCG is therefore, arguably, the state's leading anti-corruption agency since it is vested with significant and all-embracing monitoring and investigative powers, inter alia, over government's expenditure on virtually all state contracts.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The primary functions of the contractor-general are to monitor the award and implementation of government contracts to ensure that they are awarded impartially and on merit; that the circumstances of their award or termination do not involve impropriety or irregularity and that implementation of contracts conforms to the regulations. The contractor-general also monitors the grant, issue, suspension or revocation of prescribed government licences to ensure that the circumstances of their grant and so on do not involve impropriety or irregularity, and they are used in accordance with their terms.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The primary function of the contractor-general is to conduct investigations into the registration of contractors, tender procedures, award and implementation of government contracts, circumstances of the grant or revocation of prescribed licences and the practice and procedure related to these matters.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The powers of the contractor-general are awesome. Then why is it that the politicians attacked him verbally, tried to intimidate him and undermine his functions and responsibilities? The stakes are rather high. In breaching the government's procurement procedures and guidelines, for example, government entities can easily award contracts to special supporters of the government. Those supporters in turn sometimes create cost overruns running into millions of dollars out of which they give money to some politicians of the ruling party to contest elections.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=120 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>CHRISTIE... stands out like a giant </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>The practice affects the poor because the money that has been eaten up in the cost overruns could be utilised in the poverty alleviation programme. Poverty is the most se
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Ken Chaplin
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Many Jamaicans cannot remember a public official over the past 50 years who has won the support of large cross sections of the population for performing his difficult and delicate job so well.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Ken Chaplin </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>That official Greg Christie, contractor-general since last December, stands out like a giant. On the other hand, some high-ranking parliamentarians of the ruling People's National Party broke ground this year as seen by the vehemence with which they attacked Christie and tried to undermine his authority. This is surprising because the contractor-general falls under an independent commission of Parliament which stands above politics. It was established in l986.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The paramount objective of the Office of the Contractor-General (OCG) is to ensure that the public sector procurement process delivers value to the taxpayer, is free from corruption, impropriety and irregularity and is transparent, impartial, competitive, fair, efficient and effective. The OCG is therefore, arguably, the state's leading anti-corruption agency since it is vested with significant and all-embracing monitoring and investigative powers, inter alia, over government's expenditure on virtually all state contracts.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The primary functions of the contractor-general are to monitor the award and implementation of government contracts to ensure that they are awarded impartially and on merit; that the circumstances of their award or termination do not involve impropriety or irregularity and that implementation of contracts conforms to the regulations. The contractor-general also monitors the grant, issue, suspension or revocation of prescribed government licences to ensure that the circumstances of their grant and so on do not involve impropriety or irregularity, and they are used in accordance with their terms.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The primary function of the contractor-general is to conduct investigations into the registration of contractors, tender procedures, award and implementation of government contracts, circumstances of the grant or revocation of prescribed licences and the practice and procedure related to these matters.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The powers of the contractor-general are awesome. Then why is it that the politicians attacked him verbally, tried to intimidate him and undermine his functions and responsibilities? The stakes are rather high. In breaching the government's procurement procedures and guidelines, for example, government entities can easily award contracts to special supporters of the government. Those supporters in turn sometimes create cost overruns running into millions of dollars out of which they give money to some politicians of the ruling party to contest elections.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=120 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>CHRISTIE... stands out like a giant </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>The practice affects the poor because the money that has been eaten up in the cost overruns could be utilised in the poverty alleviation programme. Poverty is the most se
Comment