Clarke in the dark
Minister says he was unaware FinMin blocked ATI release of consultancy report
Published:Thursday | June 22, 2023 | 1:10 AMJovan Johnson/Senior Staff Reporter
Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has told Parliament that he was not aware his ministry blocked taxpayers from accessing a consultancy report, which has been described as a ‘draft’ document, that informed controversial new salaries implemented recently for public sector workers.
Speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday, the minister said the report “is not a secret document” but gave no indication whether his ministry will be reviewing its position.
But Opposition Leader Mark Golding argued that Clarke’s ministry’s denial of The Gleaner’s request under the Access to Information (ATI) Act “is not transparent”.
“I urge the minister, who apparently didn’t even know that decision was made, which is a surprise to say the least, countermands it and releases the report,” he said.
On June 5, The Gleaner submitted an ATI request to the ministry for copies of all final reports produced by (EY, formerly Ernst and Young), including their full final report on the compensation review and shared corporate services reform. Copies of the terms of reference provided to the international consultancy firm were also requested. The firm was contracted in December 2019 for almost $1 billion.
The ministry answered on June 14, indicating that it would not be releasing the reports.
“The documents requested are exempt from disclosure pursuant to Section 19 of the ATI Act as these projects are not yet finished, and as such, all reports are still being treated as draft documents.”
The section relates to documents revealing Government’s deliberative process.
The response was signed by an official on behalf of Financial Secretary Darlene Morrison.
Golding said the ministry’s posture is “extremely troubling” and “the idea that it can’t be released because it’s a draft really doesn’t hold water because the reform has been largely implemented already and the report ought to be made public”.
Some 95 per cent of public sector workers have signed on to the new system. The shared services aspect and performance accountability aspects are incomplete.
Clarke spoke on the matter when he tried to clarify an assertion from Golding that the salary report was not shared with unions. He said “the report that is available” was shared with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) and “other unions”.
TECHNOCRATS’ DECISION
Meanwhile, he explained that ATI requests do not go directly to him but are handled instead by technocrats.
“Usually, if they (the media) don’t get through, they escalate, it escalates and comes up to the minister and they ask ‘hey, what is happening?’ This time, they chose not to escalate. They just went and print it and I saw it in the newspaper for the first time like everybody else,” he said.
“Whatever transpired between the newspaper and technocrats at the ministry… . This was not a representation of my...,” he said of the treatment of the request, without completing the thought.
Golding was not satisfied and stated that Clarke’s response “sounds a bit like the FSC (Financial Services Commission) report on the SSL (Stocks and Securities Limited)”.
He was referencing Clarke’s admission in January that an FSC report on the fraud-hit private investment and brokerage firm that his office received in April 2020 “was never, ever, brought to my attention”.
Clarke’s statement that “the report that is available” did not escape Golding who asked: “What does he mean by that?. The minister has chosen those words carefully, no doubt.”
Golding insisted that unions he spoke with, which he did not name, “had not seen the EY report”.
The report and the terms of reference are now needed for public scrutiny because “principles of equity” that were expected in the restricting of salaries “was not achieved” and “the dissatisfaction with the outcome and the level of angst that it has led to is remarkable,” Golding argued.
“Large swathes of public sector employees, the rank and file, have not done very well out of the restructuring when you take into account their net, what they’re actually taking home, many of them feel worse off or certainly don’t feel that they’ve got anything near what they feel was justified.”
The opposition leader said it is in that context that massive salary increases to politicians, many over 200 per cent, “was such a controversial decision taken by the Government, including the prime minister”.
The Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) and the JCTU, which represents 10 unions and more than 30,000 workers, have dismissed the ministry’s reason for rejecting the ATI request.
“They should come with a better excuse,” said Helene Davis Whyte, president of the JCTU.
Noting that the issues raise questions of transparency, JMEA President John Mahfood said the report “should be a public document because it goes to the whole heart of the salary adjustment”.
EY was contracted to develop a proposal for a pay-for-performance and reward framework; develop a compensation philosophy and policy; and cost and indicate the financial impact of the new compensation structure. The firm was also to develop a single job-evaluation tool for the public sector, government news agency JIS reported.