Morris calls for resignation of UDC chairman
Published:Sunday | December 15, 2024 | 12:10 AM
Opposition Spokesman on Housing Professor Floyd Morris has called for the resignation of Norman Brown, who chairs the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ).
Brown is a director of Estatebridge, a company that the Integrity Commission (IC) has accused of breaching a building permit issued to it by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).
In his State of the Nation Debate in the Upper House on Friday, Morris indicated that action was taken against Mark Barnett, the former president of the National Water Commission, when the Integrity Commission (IC) noted that a development he jointly undertook breached an environmental permit during the construction.
“This report about Estatebridge has been tabled in the Parliament from Tuesday of this week, and I want to say, up to this point, I have not heard anybody calling for the resignation of the chairman of UDC and HAJ, who is involved in this breach,” Morris said.
Continuing, the opposition spokesman declared: “I want to take this opportunity to say to the chairman of the UDC and the HAJ that he must resign immediately, just like what was required by Mark Barnett, the president of the National Water Commission.”
However, Barnett was sent on administrative leave in the wake of the IC report.
Morris argued that the only way the Government can win back the trust and the confidence of Jamaicans is if they hold people responsible for breaches. He rebuked those he claimed were “hugging up corrupt practices”.
An investigation report from the IC, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, found that a Beverly Hills, St Andrew, townhouse complex, constructed by Estatebridge, breached a building permit issued by the KSAMC.
The IC says the development has four 4-bedroom townhouses instead of four 2-bedroom townhouses as approved by the KSAMC.
Kevon Stephenson, the IC’s director of investigations, said the breaches of the building permit were deliberate.
The directors of Estatebridge are Brown, Sydjea Anderson, and Adam Holness, the son of the prime minister.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness is the sole director and shareholder of Imperium Investments Holding Limited, a company that had shares in Estatebridge at the time the permit was granted in July 2021.
In a statement Tuesday night, Estatebridge rejected the IC report that it breached the building law in the construction of the apartment complex.
The company’s directors said at no time did the KSAMC observe a breach in the room count during its inspections.
Since that time, Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby has demanded a written report from the KSAMC’s chief engineering officer on the construction of the complex.
At the same time, the prime minister, in a separate statement, said he was concerned that he was being “targeted”.
“I am not a director of the company which is the subject of the report, and I am not a shareholder in the company, nor do I own the property in question. Therefore, it is a puzzle to me why I am a subject of this report,” Holness said.
The director of investigation came to his conclusion on the basis that at least one director, Brown, had knowledge of the alleged breaches prior to December 4, 2023, when he gave a statement to the commission that the development consisted of four 4-bedroom town houses.
According to Stephenson, Brown himself stated that he had a supervisory function in relation to the development, and Anderson indicated that Brown was the director who was generally responsible for Estatebridge’s business operations.
The commission said Brown, in a witness statement he signed, declared as “truth” that on December 4, 2023, the development consisted of four 4-bedroom townhouses.