The nine-day memory is a real thing in today’s world, but some of us do remember and compare, so we are not fooled, not at all.

We are being told by our AG that the new public procurement law cannot be implemented at this time because a significant number of procuring agencies are unprepared, and that is totally unacceptable.

Let me explain.

The Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) explained that fewer than half the agencies which transact in public money are ready for the new law to come into operation. Those bodies are called procuring agencies, and if the new law were to come into effect they would be unable to lawfully transact in public money.

The penalties prescribed under the new law are heavy and, with only a single exception, all of them carry custodial sentences for the procurement officer of an offending procuring agency. It is not possible to have an offending procuring agency simply pay a fine and carry on regardless.

The OPR has offered a six-month “grace period,” in which no prosecutions will be made, after the act is implemented. That was intended to allow a transition which would include hiring procurement officers, training staff and establishing the appropriate procedures.

So we are being asked to believe that this matter of supposedly high political priority for our PM is being delayed by unprepared state agencies.

At the same time, consider the recent High Court ruling in the unfair dismissal case of former Central Bank governor Jwala Rambaran, in which he was awarded damages for the decision of Finance Minister Colm Imbert. Therefore, it is possible for a minister to dismiss a public servant with whom he is displeased, even one as insulated as the Central Bank governor, with the public paying the damages for a lawsuit, as in that recent case.

Of course, in this public procurement scenario the opposite result would prevail. In this case, a matter of high public urgency and importance is being delayed by civil servants and state enterprises, so why is no one being fired or disciplined? After all, those firings would be for the just cause of failure or refusal to follow a lawful instruction, so no compensation would be payable and we could get on with defending the public interest.

The Government is entirely capable of removing public officials or state enterprise officers with whom it is dissatisfied – just think of the WASA CEO, the HDC MD, the Tourism Board CEO, the previous Central Bank governor and the closure of Education Facilities Company Ltd. So, if the Government really wanted to bring this law into effect now but these inefficient public servants are holding back progress, why not simply dismiss them, as has been done so many times? Sad to say, but this is the behaviour of leaders who think only they went to school...

Could you imagine if our seatbelt law were still awaiting every vehicle to have a set of seatbelts installed? What about if every factory and workshop had to be compliant before the OSHA law were passed in 2004?

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