Tender or Direct Allocation?

There is often a lot of press about the political repercussions of the grant of public contracts to the private sector. Often the criticism is political criticism of the government about who has obtained a tender or how it has or has not been performed.

It is odd to the extreme that such criticism is made at that level. Any political criticism should surely be directed at the process and not at the detail. If criticism at the detail has to be levelled it can only be because there is too direct an involvement by the political government in the selection process. It is this that needs to be criticised not mistakes made and resultant disasters.

What seems to have been forgotten is all the criticism made by the GSD of the GSLP government for direct allocations of public contracts whilst the GSLP was in power. What seems to have been forgotten is the promises made by the GSD that all this would end when they got into power. The promises of transparency and independence of such matters from interference by the political government.

Why is there so little comment about these things? Why do politicians not criticise this system over and over again? Is it that this is the system that is preferred by all politicians in case they are elected into government? Well that should not be the primary consideration. The primary consideration should be what is good for Gibraltar and its people.

Remember the money that is being spent belongs to all of us ... it is not money belonging to the government. They are entrusted to use it properly for all of us.