PREMIERS VEHICLE PURCHASE BLOCKED British and legal officials operating in the Turks and Caicos Islands have rigidly enforced a new law and slammed the brakes on Premier Dr. Rufus Ewings purchase of a new official vehicle. Investigations by the Turks and Caicos SUN revealed that the Premiers Office recently went ahead and bought a black US$81,000 Chevy Suburban SUV from Butterfield Motors. However, according to impeccable sources, after British agents and officials from Attorney General Rhondalee Braithwaites Chambers became aware of the transaction, they brought a screeching halt to the deal and the Premiers office must now go through the process of leasing the vehicle instead of buying it. The situation with the purchase of the Premiers new vehicle became so serious that heads were really about to roll, an official told the SUN, but requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. In the meantime, the sleek, full-loaded vehicle remains parked in the showroom of Butterfield Motors Leeward Highway depot with a SOLD sign on the dashboard and a huge yellow bow on the front. While Government officials seek to carry a legal and public relations paint-job on the controversial vehicle-purchase transaction, Premier Ewing has been chauffeured around in a white Ford Expedition, because the two bullet-proof Suburbans which were bought by former Premier Michael Misick Office for $100,000-plus, are in such a deplorable state that they have been condemned. Further investigations by the SUN revealed that in addition to the Premier, all other Government Ministers have essentially been barred from buying new vehicles. This is because of a government procurement ordinance which was passed in the House of Assembly in 2012, which apparently created confusion between government and a local motor vehicle vendor. In any event, under the House of Assembly (Speaker and Other members) (Salaries and Allowances) Ordinance 2012, the purchase of new vehicles for Ministers in unlawful. In an interview with The SUN, Attorney General Hon. Rhondalee Brathwaite Knowles explained that the new procurement rules came into effect shortly after the 2012 election, which the House of Assembly approved on recommendation made by the Integrity Commission. She said that the Ordinance was passed on recommendation by the Integrity Commission which was charged with the task of carrying out an assessment on the procurement of vehicles for ministers. The Attorney General said that the report recommended that vehicles acquired for ministers in the capital Grand Turk should be obtained on a leased basis, but the ones in Providenciales should be purchased. However, it went back and made an addendum to apply the lease rule in Providenciales as well. “The report was debated in the House and so on, and the Ordinance that was drafted was also debated in the House as one of the first sets of business, and then it was passed. That Ordinance says in terms of the vehicles for the premier and for the ministers, the report recommends that there should be vehicles provided for the Premier, the Deputy (Premier) and the ministers. “What the report initially said was that they (vehicles) should (only) be (leased) for Grand Turk, and then they subsequently did an addendum and included Providenciales. The report that was done by the Integrity Commission has now been amended to read that the vehicles should be acquired for them (government ministers) in Grand Turk and Providenciales”, the Attorney General said. She said that the rule is restricted to government ministers only, saying that government vehicles for departments will continue to be purchased but will be subjected to the Public Procurement Ordinance. The Attorney General added that prior to the Ewing administration coming to office, a tender was sent out for ministers’ vehicles to be acquired on a leased basis, but said it appeared that procedures in the tender was incomplete. “But then subsequent to that, the individual ministries put forward their budget for their respective ministers under their respective ministries, and so, a tender was put out for the office of the premier on a lease or purchase basis, and it looked like the correspondence that was received was for purchased only. And what happened was that they went ahead and purchased the vehicle but that was wrong, and so a lot of work had to be done to rectify that and to ensure that it was done in accordance with the law. And so we were able to get the arrangement regarding the vehicle of course in accordance with the law,” Brathwaite-Knowles explained. She said that the House of Assembly (Speaker and Other members) (Salaries and Allowances) Ordinance 2012, sets the salary scale and allowance for the members of the House. But there is also are specific sections that deal with ministers and the premier. “And one of those provisions says in terms of vehicles for the ministers and the premier that they should be on a lease-only basis. But there was an error, and the tender, when it went out was for lease or purchase – it included both options. But it only should have included one option because that is what the ordinance demands, and so that is what happened,” she said. “The law requires that government provides these vehicles to ministers, and what has happened since they have been in office is that they have had the use of other government vehicles. And I don’t know in terms of ministry by ministry why the tenders haven’t gone out from those ministries. But they have money in their budgets – there are approved budgets for vehicles for ministers. “And so, everybody understands fully that when those tenders go out that they would have to be on a leased basis. It certainly would be prudent that it would be one tender for all of the vehicles and send that out on a value for money basis as opposed to individual tenders for lease,” she said. Brathwaite-Knowles pointed out that the law does not prescribe a particular type of vehicle that the ministers must purchase. She said that technical people from Public Works Department (PWD) Mechanical Workshop assist with the technical documents as it relates to specification
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:51:18 +0000
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