Finance ministry letter contradicts NLA response over senior appointment

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service told the National Land Agency (NLA) in May 2023 that it did not approve removing a mandatory international qualification for a post later filled by a former political adviser, an apparent contradiction of the state agency’s assertions.

“There has been no official acceptance or approval granted,” said a ministry letter obtained by The Sunday Gleaner.

It was referring to the NLA’s push to amend the job description for the post of senior director, estate management, by, among other things, removing the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) certification as a minimum requirement.

The NLA did not provide that information in a statement on Friday that sought to challenge a May 5 Sunday Gleaner report.

“The NLA received permission for the removal of RICS as a mandatory minimum requirement from the MOFPS (finance ministry) in a letter dated December 15, 2022,” the agency said, pointing to the finance ministry.

The NLA did not release the 2022 letter, but The Sunday Gleaner obtained a copy of the document.

The letter oultined that the ministry’s “no objection” to the proposal was conditional on the agency providing further documentation, a requirement the NLA did not disclose on Friday.

The NLA claimed that, based on the ministry’s purported permission in December 2022, it started a recruitment exercise for the senior director role.

The post was later filled by Christopher McPherson, a former NLA board member who served as an adviser to Cabinet minister Aubyn Hill from January 2022 to August 31, 2023.

He started his NLA senior executive job on September 1, 2023.

However, additional information raises further questions for the NLA, whose chief executive officer is Cheriese Walcott, an attorney promoted to the top job in September 2021.

In its December 2022 letter addressed to Walcott, the finance ministry said its Corporate Management and Establishment Branch reviewed amended (revised) job descriptions that the NLA submitted for three positions.

It said the branch “offers its no objection to the amendment of the minimum required qualifications and experience for the posts at caption, with no consequential effect on the current classification grade of the posts”.

The ministry was responding to the NLA’s September 6, 2022 letter which proposed the removal of the RICS from three posts in the estate management division – the top job of senior director; manager, regional services, and manager, property services.

What the NLA did not say in its Friday statement was that the ministry stated that another requirement would have to be met before any approvals could be granted.

“In consequence, kindly submit the validated (signed) revised job descriptions which will form a part of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service’s official job description database,” the letter concluded.

Five months later, and after a series of exchanges between the two bodies, the finance ministry had a message for the NLA.

“Following on the request of the NLA for the amendment to the job description for selected posts, please note that there has been no official amendment to the job description for senior director, estate management division,” the ministry said in a letter dated May 11, 2023, that was addressed to the NLA’s CEO.

The correspondence continued: “The approval for changes to job specification and details requires the submission of a validated revised job description (signed by the incumbent, head of HR (human resources), and the incumbent’s supervisor. This has not been provided… .

“In light of the above, there has been no official acceptance or approval granted,” it said.

Those details are missing from the NLA’s press release of May 10, 2024, and an accompanying document it claimed gives a timeline of the events surrounding the employment of McPherson and the decisions regarding the removal of the RICS qualification, which there was no indication McPherson possesses.

One of the challenges the NLA had in meeting the requirement was the refusal of a senior official to sign off on the revised job description that scrapped the RICS certification, a proposal the official said raised “deep concern” for the operations of the estate management division which oversees over 40,000 parcels of government lands and the divestment of state lands.

The official told the NLA leadership that “with the diverse, often complex and historically rich portfolio of properties”, senior leaders in the division must have “specialised knowledge in the complexities of real property and how to provide solutions to them”.

“This is what a member of the RICS represents and it is of the highest importance that members of the management team within the division are chartered surveyors,” they said.

The RICS is a 156-year-old globally recognised professional body that sets standards and qualifications for professionals in land, real estate, and construction. It has over 130,000 members and its standards are used in more than 140 countries, including Jamaica. Its certification has been a longstanding minimum requirement for key positions in land valuation and estate management at NLA.

The senior director post was advertised in January and February giving “full exemption” from the RICS requirement, although the NLA said having it would be an asset. Experience in land administration, which was required in junior positions was not listed.

The NLA said it got eight applications but only three met the minimum requirements. It said McPherson received the highest scores in a written assessment and a simulated exercise and a four-member panel identified him as “the most suitable candidate following an interview”. The assessment took place in March 2023.

One of the finalists, who possesses the RICS, filed an appeal, challenging the selection process on several grounds, including whether due process was followed in removing RICS as a mandatory requirement. The issue was raised with the Office of the Services Commissions and the finance ministry.

The NLA said it is yet to receive a written response to the appeal that was lodged on April 12, 2023.

According to the agency, an offer was made and accepted by McPherson in August 2023. It explained that, because of the appeal, McPherson was employed on a one-year contract with “no guarantee of an appointment to the position”.

“It is my pleasure to announce Mr Christopher McPherson as our new senior director, estate management,” Walcott told her team in a notice, adding that he “assumed duties on September 1, 2023 with over 19 years’ progressive experience in strategic, land and operations management”.

In its statement on Friday, the NLA said it received a letter dated October 24, 2023, from the finance ministry, “indicating that the approval for the removal of RICS was rescinded”.

“Consequent to the MOFPS rescinding its decision to remove RICS as a mandatory requirement for the post of senior director, estate management, the National Land Agency was still contractually bound based on the employment contract offer to Mr McPherson. In March 2024 the decision was taken to transfer Mr McPherson to the Business Services Division as the senior director, business services, following the retirement of the previous incumbent,” the agency said.

The Sunday Gleaner reported on the October 2023 finance ministry letter last week and the document contains no suggestion that it was withdrawing a previous position.

The ministry told the CEO that it “will retain RICS membership and certification as mandatory” for five positions in the land valuation division and three positions, including senior director, in the estate management division.

“The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is considered one of the highest forms of professionalisation and certification in the area of estate and land management and is an easily recognisable stamp of approval as subject experts with the highest level of integrity and professionalism. These characteristics are necessary for the contentious field of land and estate management in Jamaica,” the ministry said.

The ministry said it arrived at the conclusion following a desk and post-audit exercise conducted by its Corporate Management and Establishment Branch of the posts for which the NLA was seeking the amendment. It said it advised the NLA of the review from August 29.

The finance ministry argued that, given the work of the NLA, its operations face “considerable risks”, which it itemised as fraud and forgeries, data security and privacy, land disputes, among others.

“The vast mandate and risk universe of the NLA require its staff, especially portfolio managers and directors, to hold the highest level of integrity, professionalism, and competences to function effectively as an ‘Authority’ in the legal and natural sense,” the letter said.

The NLA’s response on Friday came two weeks after it refused to answer questions posed by The Sunday Gleaner, which had submitted queries to the agency on April 23. A day later the NLA responded, “Please be advised that the agency will not be responding to the questions”.

Additional questions pressing for further details on permissions it sought and a justification for removal of the RICS were submitted on April 30 but the NLA did not acknowledge them. A follow-up email sent on May 3 was also not acknowledged.

Questions sent to the finance ministry on April 30 were acknowledged but remain unanswered.

The NLA, which falls under the Prime Minister Andrew Holness-led Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, deals with government lands and is the sole authority that issues titles in the country.

The ministry acknowledged receiving questions from The Sunday Gleaner on May 2 but there has been no response.

jovan.johnson@gleanerjm