One-of-a-kind deal for CMU’s Lawrence – president
Published:Thursday | October 24, 2019 | 1:27 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Parliamentary Reporter
Jamaica Labour Party politician-cum-lecturer Othniel Lawrence was parachuted into a Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) consultancy that has been described by the interim president as a one-of-a-kind contract sealed by the institution.
Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) was yesterday told by acting CMU President Ibrahim Ajagunna that Lawrence’s contract appeared to have a “hybrid-type” status.
Two months after Lawrence inked the contract with the CMU, the JLP announced that then Education Minister Ruel Reid had been selected to replace him as the party’s caretaker for St Ann North West. Reid was sacked from his ministerial position in March this year and quit the caretakership in September.
Reid, his wife Sharen, daughter Sharelle, CMU President Fritz Pinnock, and councillor for the Brown’s Town division in St Ann, Kim Brown Lawrence, are facing corruption and fraud charges arising from a probe at the CMU and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.
Appearing before the PAAC yesterday, Ajagunna told committee members that at least three legal opinions sought by the CMU Council on Lawrence’s $5-million contract advised that the agreement could not be terminated without accruing additional liability.
Legal advice came from the CMU’s internal counsel, an attorney not linked to the institution, and the Attorney General’s Department.
“The responses that we got from these three legal luminaries are that the contract is a hybrid type of a contract. It is a contract for service – that is how it is written – but there are other items in relation to what is provided to the individual that makes it look like a full employment.
“The legal opinion is that we may have to allow the contract to ride out itself,” Ajagunna pointed out.
He said that Lawrence was invited to a meeting with the CMU Council regarding his contract. However, he did not disclose details of the deliberations.
PAAC member Mikael Phillips reminded his colleagues that the university council did not have any input in the decision to employ Lawrence.
Phillips recalled that the president of the CMU had informed the committee that he and another person, not including the human resources manager, interviewed Lawrence after he was asked to submit his curriculum vitae.
“There was no advertising for the position, so he was handpicked for that job and given that air-tight contract where neither the board nor the HR manager had any say in the matter,” Phillips charged.
Meanwhile, committee member Fitz Jackson called for chairman of the CMU Council, Hyacinth Bennett, to be subpoenaed after she was a no-show at yesterday’s meeting.
PAAC Chairman Wykeham McNeill read a terse response from Bennett.
“In response to the request for me to be in attendance at the PAAC sitting on Wednesday, October 23, 2019, this serves to inform you that I am unable to do so,” Bennett’s letter read.
However, Bennett’s response drew the ire of Jackson, who insisted that she had an obligation to appear before the committee. “To come is not a choice,” he stressed.