Williams takes flak for floundering CASE projects

Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams has come under fire for failing to outline hard deadlines on a number of unfinished multimillion-dollar projects at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE).

Williams’ failure to provide a timeline for the completion of the projects, while delivering the keynote address at Saturday’s Evening of Excellence Gala Dinner and Awards function hosted by the association, has left members of the college’s alumni association fuming.

“There are projects at CASE that we need to get over the finish line. Construction of the abattoir, construction of a biodigester, two wastewater treatment plants – one for the facility where students live. So we are trying to find the space in the budget to ensure that these projects come on stream and that they get completed, because I know one of the issues of the alumni group is that a lot is started but not completed, and we are going to ensure that these projects get completed,” the education minister said in her keynote address.

President of the CASE Alumni Association, Pius Lacan, was among those left disappointed by Williams’ disclosure.

“A project has a beginning and an end. So, if you reschedule the project, then you should have some timelines in terms of the end of the project. So, you know Project A is expected to be completed at this time and Project B at X time, but we still don’t have those details,” Lacan told The Gleaner Sunday.

“We don’t know the status of the projects because, remember, we are not on the board. So we do not get an update as to the current status with regards to the projects. So we don’t know if the projects are 50 per cent completed, 75 per cent, and what we require is some more details and also some timelines in terms of the end of those projects,” he said.

The alumni association has been locked in a battle with the education ministry, following the sidelining of Lacan and Canute Saddler from the board of governors of the Portland-based farming college last year.

Both men were caught unawares by a July 14 letter that thanked them for their services but did not offer a reason for their removal.

The association has also locked horns with the ministry over its demand for the dismissal of President Dr Derrick Deslandes, whose employment contract expired on August 31, 2021. They took issue with his reporting for duty at the start of the school term in September without any advertisement for the vacancy.

Williams has since advised The Gleaner that Deslandes’ contract was extended for one year and the post advertised in the press late last month. However, she has not responded to queries on when the extension decision was made.

The alumni association has called for the removal of Deslandes, citing ongoing wastage of money earmarked for projects at the college, as well as his perceived distraction because of other external appointments.

However, the CASE president has defended his stewardship, explaining that, while the college had the Government’s commitment to fund various projects, it had not yet received all the money in hand.

The alumni association has listed among the unfinished projects a plant tissue culture laboratory to be constructed at a cost of $18 million; a state-of-the-art tunnel ventilation broiler chicken house, at a cost of $25 million; two commercial aquaponics production facilities for $10.4 million; a licensed commercial medical cannabis production facility, reported to cost $110 million; a half-acre plant propagation shade house, at a reported cost of $4.5 million; and the construction of an abattoir for $29 million.

Further, the association has expressed concern at the snail’s pace of project implementation; income-generation opportunities that are being missed; and the lack of transparency surrounding the execution of the projects.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com