Sydney Bartley tapped to head JCDC

Cultural expert Sydney Bartley, who was forced out of his post as permanent secretary in the culture ministry amid a cloud of controversy in 2014, is set to be appointed as executive director of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), multiple highly placed sources have said.

Bartley's appointment was being considered to take effect tomorrow.

News of the impending appointment has been met with fierce resistance from staff at the State's premier cultural promotion agency that falls under the portfolio of Culture Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange.

Bartley declined to confirm the development last week when The Sunday Gleaner spoke with him.

“Who tell you I'm starting at JCDC? ... Where you got that from? Mi inna one meeting. Me will call you back,” he said.

The promised return call was not received, and subsequent phone calls to him have gone unanswered.

Neither has there been a response to questions sent by our news team to Grange and JCDC Chairman Mexine Bisasor.

Grange was reportedly angry when she learnt that The Sunday Gleaner sought confirmation of the pending appointment.

Although none of the allegations against Barley were proven, staff at the JCDC and in the ministry have been upset, claiming that his return does not bode well for the future of the agency, which has been without a permanent executive director since March 2017, when the then head, Delroy Gordon, died.

The 15-member JCDC board has also reportedly not played any significant role in the hiring decision that is believed to be geared at strengthening the Government's capacity to plan celebrations for Jamaica's 60th anniversary of Independence next August.

“I don't know what kind of decision is this. We've had no head since 2017 and you're coming with someone who is not only past retirement age, but had to be reassigned while he served in the culture ministry years ago,” said a ministry official, who didn't want to be named for fear of victimisation.

In 2014, Bartley had gone to court seeking to stop efforts to force his early retirement as permanent secretary in the culture and youth ministry, amid the controversy.

Then portfolio minister Lisa Hanna had insisted in court documents that she was uncomfortable with Bartley continuing in the position and reportedly informed Bartley that Children's Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison had formally reported a complaint against him.

A stop order was placed against Bartley, which he became aware of after he was removed from an airplane headed for New York in February 2014.

By 2015, Bartley won a Court of Appeal case for Gordon Harrison to release details of her investigation, especially because the matter affected his freedom of movement.

In a report to the director of public prosecutions, the children's advocate conceded that her investigations failed to unearth any evidence to support any charges against Bartley.

Meanwhile, it has been almost a year since Information Minister Fayval Williams promised that Grange would address the findings of a leaked audit report which revealed a raft of questionable spending and hirings at the JCDC.

Grange has not publicly spoken on the audit that, among other things, revealed that Enid Harrow, a close associate of hers, was employed for a job already being performed by a JCDC staff member; contract payments before work completion; and routine overpayments.

After The Sunday Gleaner published the details of the audit, the JCDC management reminded staff of the Official Secrets Act, a colonial-era law that criminalised certain disclosures by public officials.

editorial@gleanerjm.com