Kamina’s sponsors say they’re patriots

Three business moguls have defended their multimillion-dollar sponsorship of Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith's failed candidature for the post of Commonwealth secretary general, insisting that they were motivated only by patriotism.

At the same time, de facto Information Minister Robert Morgan disclosed in Parliament that PR Etcetera Limited was the company that won a bid through the Government's procurement process to “protect the image of the candidacy” of Johnson Smith through the engagement of services with Finn Partners.

The director of PR Etcetera Limited is listed in Companies Office of Jamaica records as Tess-Maria Leon, a consultant and former assistant to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett. Leon and Delano Seiveright, a strategist with the tourism ministry, are listed as shareholders. Seiveright ceased being a director in 2018.

It is not clear how much PR Etcetera Limited was paid under that contract, as Morgan explained that resources from the $5 million spent by the Government for public relations and communications had to be used also to defray costs for graphics, photography, and printing costs at the Jamaica Information Service.

GraceKennedy, Musson Group, and banker Keith Duncan gave the Government permission to name them as part-funders of Johnson Smith's Commonwealth campaign.

The Government had previously resisted calls for the disclosure of private-sector interests who donated $15 million in support for Johnson Smith.

An informed source told The Gleaner Tuesday that a total of six companies and individuals made contributions. Five of the companies gave equal sums, while a sixth donated a little more than $1.5 million.

In a Gleaner interview, Don Wehby, group chief executive officer of GraceKennedy, said that his company made a contribution to Johnson Smith's campaign with the recognition that had she succeeded in her bid for the post “it would have been extremely beneficial to Jamaica and to the wider private sector”.

Quizzed about the contribution made by his company, Wehby said he believed that such a disclosure should be made by the Government.

Duncan told The Gleaner that he made a personal contribution towards Johnson Smith's bid to take the Commonwealth secretary general post.

Duncan said that he was prepared, from the outset, to be transparent about his personal contribution, adding that he favoured Johnson Smith's decision to throw her hat in the ring.

“My rationale was that it was in the best interest of Jamaica and it would put Jamaica in a leadership role in a global institution, and anything that can advance Jamaica's cause, I am always willing to support, and I think we had an excellent candidate,” Duncan said.

Paul B. Scott, chairman and CEO of Musson Group of Companies, said that Johnson Smith was an “incredibly talented individual”.

Scott believes that installing Johnson Smith as Commonwealth secretary general in the post-Brexit era would have burnished the credentials of the 56-nation group and strategically positioned it as a trading bloc from which Jamaica would have benefited.

St Andrew South East Member of Parliament Julian Robinson had asked Prime Minister Andrew Holness questions regarding the funding of Johnson Smith's candidature.

However, after delays in answering the questions, the prime minister, who was in Parliament Tuesday, was not in the House when the questions were asked by Robinson and Speaker Marisa Dalrymple Philibert asked Morgan to respond on Holness' behalf.

During Tuesday's question-and-answer session, Opposition Leader Mark Golding pressed Morgan to disclose the names of the other persons or companies who funded Johnson Smith's bid.

“He is smiling and laughing like it's a joke,” said Golding.

Morgan did not name the others.

He said that the other persons did not give permission for their names to be disclosed in Parliament.

“I am kinda disappointed because a lot of these persons participated because they believed not in the Government, not in Kamina Johnson Smith, but they believed that Jamaica's candidature could bring significant benefits to the country,” the minister without portfolio said.

“I suspect that all of them are saying to themselves: 'Why would we want to get into this controversy where we are legitimate businesses and individuals. We have contributed to opposition conference and opposition activities and government activities, and in this case, we are being dragged through the coals.'”

However, Robinson rejected Morgan's assertions that anyone was dragging persons or companies over the coals, arguing that parliamentarians are subject to public finance regulations and have to make statutory declarations annually to the Integrity Commission.

The St Andrew South East MP also noted that politicians have to declare who contributed to their campaigns during general elections. Robinson said the queries being made were not different from the process to which MPs are subjected.

“The reality is, the reason you have that level of accountability is to protect and to safeguard particular interest against having a disproportionate influence on policy,” Robinson said.

Asked to give details about the procurement process involving PR Etcetera, Morgan said that the information was not available to him at the time.

The Government forked out $18.2 million for Johnson Smith's failed bid for Commonwealth secretary general post.

Additionally, $25.7 million was spent on the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting held in Kigali, Rwanda, in June. A total of 16 government-sponsored persons attended the conference from Jamaica.

Incumbent Commonwealth Secretary General Baroness Patricia Scotland turned back Johnson Smith's June challenge by three votes for a second term.