Dear Editor,
Seven months into the David Granger administration in 2015, Minister Simona Broomes, for whatever reason(s), was moved from the Ministry of Social Protection to a newly-created Ministry of Natural Resources, to serve under Minister Raphael Trotman. At the time I had reached out informally to the substantive Minister to bring to his attention the obvious potential for a conflict of interest, given Ms. Broomes’ history of business interests and the continuing interests of her immediate family in the mining sector. In a May 2016 article in the Guyana Chronicle entitled “Broomes safe…” President Granger referred to Minister Trotman as an ‘experienced Attorney’ and said he had asked for the latter’s advice; the Junior Minister was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.
In 2019, then Opposition Leader Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo had raised the matter of the award of housing contracts by the CHPA to the husband of then Housing Minister Valerie Adams Yearwood. Of course, Minister Adams Yearwood at the time exercised oversight at the CHPA as Housing Minister; she was subsequently reassigned to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Also in 2019, Minister with responsibility for Communications Cathy Hughes was called upon to explain the award of contracts to a company, Videomega Productions. Her explanation was that albeit she remained listed on company documents as Managing Director, she had relinquished responsibility for the day to day running of the business and was no longer participating in its operations. By so doing, the Minister had endeavoured to create a legal space between the company and herself. To the best of my recollection, no wrongdoing was officially attributed to the allegations.
During the first administration of President Irfaan Ali, allegations have been made regarding the less than transparent award of contracts – albeit not all for reasons of conflict of interest – the existence of a Public Procurement Commission notwithstanding. Fast forward to 2025, and three months into this administration, the brand-new Minister of Amerindian Affairs Ms. Sarah Browne-Shadeek, commendably a member of our first nations Community, has come out swinging against similar allegations of conflict of interest. In response to the allegations regarding her husband, a contractor by profession, bidding for contract(s) for projects to be executed by the said Ministry, the Minister’s less than elegant response was, “If he has to get work, I don’t see why he can’t benefit”.
In all the examples cited, it seems lost on our guardians of good governance, the people’s elected representatives, that it is not necessary for an act or omission to have occurred, for the matter of conflict of interest to arise. Transparency must not only exist but be seen to exist.
Once a familial or business relationship exists, or existed in the fairly recent past, the potential for a conflict arises and should therefore be eliminated: this could be achieved either by the bidder not operating within the particular sphere of influence of the principal, or the principal recusing him/herself or removing him/herself (or being removed) from that area of responsibility, even if only for a temporary period.
Regarding the current situation at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, albeit Madam Minister is new to the High Office, she ought not to be unfamiliar with the rules and practices of procurement in public administration, having been elevated to the helm of the said Ministry after serving there as Parliamentary Secretary; indeed some might say it begs the question as to what role she had played in her previous position there, when it came to matters of good governance and oversight in the award of contracts (but that is a separate issue).
To be clear Madam Minister, nobody is saying that your husband should be precluded from being awarded government contracts as a consequence of your ministerial position – far from it! What is being said however, just as in the case of the other instances cited (Mining, Housing, Communications), is that your husband can bid for contracts – the right to work is referenced in our Constitution – but he should confine himself (and there is a corresponding duty upon you as well to see that he does so confine himself) to areas of activity which fall outside of your ministerial portfolio in the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.
To the extent that his professional competence and experience are beyond reproach, he ought to be able to compete alongside other like contractors in transparent arms-length transactions for contract awards in those other areas of activity.
As the French are fond of saying, “Plus ca change…”