Former RADA board member stumped by conflict-of-interest claims
Published:Thursday | October 27, 2022 | 12:11 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
Former board member of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Olive Downer Walsh yesterday dismissed claims by the Integrity Commission that she was conflicted, owing to her employment with a company that received contracts from the state-run agency and, as such, should not have been appointed to the board.
In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the anti-corruption body said that then Minister of Agriculture Floyd Green should not have reappointed Downer Walsh to the board of RADA, as her position posed a potential or perceived conflict of interest.
Downer Walsh was the deputy chief executive officer for H&L Agro Limited while serving on the RADA board.
However, in a Gleaner interview last evening, Downer Walsh said that, having read the commission’s report, she was left “unclear why the commission would deem it a conflict of interest”.
Downer Walsh said that she carefully followed the Government’s requirements by declaring interest while she was serving as a member of the RADA board.
“I am still at a loss as to why it would be deemed a conflict of interest because you want persons with the knowledge of the industry to serve in these capacities,” said Downer Walsh, adding that “once you follow due process by declaring an interest and you don’t interfere in the process, whether personally or as a member of the board, then I am still at a loss as to how it would be deemed a conflict”.
Downer Walsh said that, in addition to declaring interest to the board, she wrote to the then RADA Chairman Michael Stern, referencing the RADA bid that H&L had submitted.
“I just thought that I was dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s and kind of overdoing it to make sure that, in all areas, I am super in compliance.
“I thought that was just an additional layer of declaration in a letter to the board chairman in 2016 and again in 2018 and referencing the bids that we have participated in by submitting.”
The Integrity Commission reported that, between January 2017 and January 2021, RADA awarded 14 contracts to H&L Agro Limited, valuing $135,957,658.24.
Director of Investigations Kevon Stephenson said that three of the 14 contracts were endorsed by Downer Walsh in her capacity as deputy chief executive officer on behalf of H&L Agro.
Downer Walsh questioned whether there was any regulation that barred members of the agricultural sector that are appointed to a government boards from providing goods and services to the State.