Guyana’s Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall has attempted to shutter the opposition’s claims of ethnic discrimination through public procurement. This follows a damning exposé made by the Head of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), Rickford Burke.
Burke, who is often critical of the government, recently accused it of only appeasing its Indo-Guyanese supporters and “elites”with massive contracts. He has also been at the forefront of many protest demonstrations in the United States of America advocating for the Guyana Government’s termination of policies he described as anti-Black. 
Several days ago, he posted on his Facebook page, “evidence” of ethnic discrimination in the distribution of government contracts. He said that CGID-commissioned economists in Guyana found that Indo-Guyanese-owned companies are the largest beneficiaries of state contracts. He said that of the 288 contracts, totalling $32.1 billion, awarded so far for 2022, “East Indian contractors” received $23.4 billion worth of projects. This, he said, represents 72.6 percent of all government-funded contracts. He reported that Afro-Guyanese received $2.2 billion in contracts, which translates to a measly six percent of all works in 2022.
Nandlall took umbrage to the revelation, dubbing it as another element of the opposition’s “race-baiting” and “hatemongering” campaign. He was quick to note that the government plays no role in the awarding of contracts at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
“Contracts are awarded not by government, but by a law called the National Procurement Act. That Act sets up a tribunal and machinery that outlines how contracts are awarded. It begins with the public Invitation for Bids. These bids are assessed by public servants, 85 percent of whom are Afro-Guyanese.”
He added, ” [They make a] recommendation in terms of who should get the award based upon the bids submitted. [Also] there are stated criteria by which each bid is assessed. That recommendation is then forwarded to the Cabinet for no objection and then the contract is awarded.”
The AG said that when the Coalition was in government it was more concerned with “cronyism” than looking out for black-owned firms.
The AG said that the APNU+AFC was not worried about the ethnic distribution of awards when it bypassed procurement procedures to give an East Indian businessman a contract to store medical supplies in a “bottom house” in the city. The “bond” was rented for close to $13M per month.
“They paid over $400M in rent to that gentleman. His name is Larry Singh. He’s not Afro-Guyanese. Let them tell you the billions of dollars in contracts that BK International got under their government. He (Brian Tiwari) is not Afro-Guyanese. The point I am making to you, it’s not about race for them. It’s about cronyism. Normal Afro-Guyanese suffered under them like any other racial grouping in this country…Let them show you how many Afro-Guyanese got contracts under their government,” Nandlall stressed.
He added that the APNU+AFC also took lands from an Afro-Guyanese civil contractor, leading to his company almost going belly-up.
Nandlall said that if the opposition is genuinely concerned about the ethnic distribution of contract awards, it can help more Afro-Guyanese to “enter the fray”.
“If they want – and that is all they do: advance the agenda of one racial group in this country – they can get more persons to enter the fray; get more persons to enter their bids. If five pink men buy five lottery tickets and those are all the tickets that are available, do you think a yellow man would win the lottery? But they aren’t telling you that. The truth of the matter is that those statistics would not be any different under their administration. Let them show how many Afro-Guyanese got contracts under their government.”
