– Procurement Officer bids to make more purchases –
Over the past few years Region Ten had bought millions of dollars’ worth in supplies
from Regal Stationary. However while many persons had raised suspicion in how several of the
tenders were executed by the region considering there were allegations of kickbacks being
offered, a startling discovery was made some months back when the Region bought face masks
and other medical supplies from the Stationery store which is considered as one of Guyana most
prestigious stationery stores.
According to sources at RDC Ten several red flags were raised when the Region through its
Procurement Officer Reyan ‘Randy’ Hall made several purchases with regular facemask being
purchased at 3000.00 dollars each. What was disturbing according to the sources is that several
of the facemasks that the region paid 3000.00 for were not the N95 mass with the market price
being estimated at a far lower price. Questions are being asked as to whether Regal Stationery is
licensed to sell medical supplies. A major supplier in Georgetown has blown the lid on what is
being viewed as a highly corrupt and well set out operation.
“Randy doesn’t allow us the supplier to decide what we offer him as he dictates what he wants
and if you want to get the job you arc forced to agree,” a supplier revealed. The supplier said that
he first approached the Procurement Officer with the view of securing the ‘job’ of supplying
medical supplies considering that Guyana was making large amounts of purchases at the time for
COVID 19. He noted that despite Randy demanding a certain amount, he informed Randy that
the ‘cut’ he was looking for was too much. “He wanted a certain amount and I told him that he
can’t get this amount as while we agreed to increase the price to allow him to get a cut back I felt
that he was being unreasonable with the amount he was seeking to get,” the prominent
businessman said.
Documents secured through the accounts department has revealed that a significant amount of
medical supplies bought were from Regal Stationery and two other businesses registered to the
Procurement Officer
www.aroundtheregions.com have sought on numerous occasions to enquire from several persons
within the region as to the expected action being taken by the region with regards to the current
situation.
Former AFC MP, Audwin Rutherford firmly believes that there should be a thorough audit of the
Region with the REO taking certain actions if he is going to secure the confidence of residents.
“The region has a new REO and from my interactions with him over the years I feel that he
intends to get the work done but what is of importance is that he should take the disclosure of
corruption, unethical and unprofessional actions being leveled against his staff seriously. He
should take appropriate actions after he would have done his investigations because he must be
cognizant that persons are watching to see what actions he takes,” Rutherford said.
The Former MP stressed that many residents are aware of the ‘dealings’ that take place in the
region because this is something that has been taking place. It’s so long standing that there are
some persons who work in the region that you would refer to them as ‘gangster’ , so these are
nothing new but what the residents want to know is what actions if any would be taken against
these persons,” the MP queried.
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