National Industrial Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Executive Director and Privatisation Unit (PU) Executive Secretary and head, Winston Brassington said he is prepared to defend his stewardship as a state employee for over 17 years.
He chided opposition politicians for attacking his integrity by insinuating that he is involved in corrupt practices.
Brassington said that in recent weeks, Kaieteur News and opposition parties in Parliament have made a number of attacks and insinuations regarding his conduct as head of the Privatisation Unit and NICIL. Brassington singled out AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan for his attacks, saying that the parliamentarian has at his disposal a number of avenues to scrutinise the operations of the government-run entities.
Brassington said he has over 17 years at the PU, 15 of these as executive secretary and head. During this period, Brassington said, he worked in a full-time capacity as a contract employee.
He said from the start of 2002, he assumed the CEO responsibilities of NICIL, the government holding company for investments.
According to Brassington, as head of the PU and executive director/ CEO of NICIL, he reports to the respective boards and Cabinet as appropriate.
“In my capacity as CEO/ head, I may also respond, as appropriate, to various questions that may be raised by the parliamentary committees or media. Additionally, questions on the activities of PU/ NICIL may also be raised in Parliament and answers submitted via the responsible minister or via the HPS [head of the presidential secretariat] press conferences. Over the last 17 years, PU/ NICIL has responded to many questions.”
Committed to addressing questions, Brassington said in early 2011, he signalled his intention to join the private sector, to government.
“This decision was taken well in advance of the 2011 elections, and was guided by the fact that the privatisation programme was substantially complete. By the end of 2011, I reached an agreement in principle with government, that from 2012, I would work on a part-time basis, transitioning to a consultant. At the same time, I have made it clear, that I am committed to ensuring that those matters that I am working on will be completed, or where my institutional knowledge is required, that this is available.
“Further, I am personally committed to ensuring that any questions regarding the integrity of the process and transactions can be addressed.”
Brassington asserted that no organisation is based on one individual, noting that both the PU and NICIL, report to the privatisation board and the NICIL board respectively. According to him, on many matters, these boards, in turn, report to Cabinet.
“In the case of privatisation, every privatisation is governed by the GoG Privatisation Policy Framework Paper (PPFP) laid in Parliament in July 2003. One cardinal principle of the privatisation framework is the three-tier process that includes a privatisation board that includes 50 per cent of the board members coming from labour, the private sector, and consumer organisations,” Brassington said.
He added that in the case of NICIL, this is a government holding company, set up by the People’s National Congress (PNC) before 1991. Like any company, this company is governed by the Companies Act. “Therefore, in terms of accountability and reporting, the first duty of a head is to his board,” Brassington stated.
He said both NICIL and the privatisation programme are subject to audit by the Office of the Auditor General. Noting that the law mandates that only the Office of the Auditor General shall audit state entities, Brassington said as such, NICIL has no choice in the selection of the auditors.
“The Office of the Auditor General has always been empowered to audit all privatisations of this government. In 2008, the Privatisation Unit published a report documenting the transparency of every privatisation [which can be obtained at www.privatisation.gov.gy]. This report is currently being updated to reflect those additional transactions that have been completed since then; once complete, this revised report will be made a pubic document via the privatisation board.”
Deals
In respect of NICIL, Brassington said its books are audited to the end of 2010. However, the audit opinion is not issued until all of the subsidiary audits are completed and the consolidated statements of the group can be completed. “In this respect, up to 2004, audit opinion has been issued for NICIL as a group, with this audit opinion being a clean opinion.”
Brassington also clarified that PU/NICIL is not involved in secret deals, noting that anyone involved in national and international business will know that confidential agreements between the negotiating parties are a primary and normal requirement.
“It is not a matter of the lack of transparency in government dealings, it is that the government has to sign confidentiality agreements before it can engage in meaningful dialogue with potential investors. Otherwise, no selfrespecting business will engage in discussions with the government. Information can only be put in the public domain at certain stages in the negotiations.”
Parliament
On the role of Parliament in overseeing the operations of PU/ NICIL, Brassington said Members of Parliament (MPs), including long-time parliamentarian Ramjattan, have many avenues available to obtain information on NICIL or privatisation.
He outlined that the options include: raising written questions in Parliament and seeking answers from the government. In this respect, every question put forward by the opposition parties in Parliament have been answered by the PPP government. Besides, he said MPs can seek answers on public accounts and accountability via the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.
Additionally, MPs can also seek answers to issues via the other parliamentary sub-committees, for example, the Natural Resources Sub-Committee. “I have answered questions in the past on GPL, on the Berbice Bridge, and other matters,” Brassington noted.
Politics
Brassington further noted that given the technical nature of the position he holds, it is not usually his place to first respond to issues raised by politicians. In fact, he said on many of these issues, it has more to do with politics.
“The media, on the other hand, is expected to be fair, objective, and balanced. Even if one does not like it, in any public office (political or otherwise), one has to endure a certain level of press attacks. However, when opposition leaders like Ramjattan, via Kaieteur News, carry a headline: ‘Brassington resignation, no get out of jail free card’, the headline alone, is intended to impugn one’s integrity and suggest an accusation of a serious nature,” he stressed.
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