Andrews suspended in misconduct probe
Published:Monday | February 6, 2017 | 12:00 AMLivingston Scott
A release from the Ministry of Culture, Entertainment, Gender and Sports said the Lloyd Pommells-led board of directors of the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) has suspended Ian Andrews, its administrative director, albeit with pay, pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct.
According to the release, the board has advised the ministry of the move to put the administrative director on suspension until investigations are finalised. The ministry will oversee the operations of the institution until an acting administrative director is appointed.
The release also states that Andrews must hand over all INSPORTS-owned property to the permanent secretary in the said ministry. It also said in the release that there would be no further comment on the matter from the ministry at this time.
Andrews has been involved in an ongoing conflict with the INSPORTS board of directors since September 2013. In that year, the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament said the former broadcaster failed to report to the Auditor General's Department in a performance audit of the agency.
PAYMENT QUESTIONS
Pamela Monroe Ellis, the auditor general, reported that INSPORTS did not conduct annual performance appraisals of staff and that Andrews, took the decision to reclassify 13 of 14 appraised staff members to higher positions. This resulted in unauthorised payments of $24.6 million for the period June 2007 to June 2011.
Then in 2015, the previous Don Anderson-led board removed Andrews' signing authority, which is part of the administrative director's job description, and sent him on administrative leave. However, he returned along with signing powers after a directive from the Ministry of Finance last year.
In recent months, the former sportscaster has again come under increasing scrutiny and pressure, and after nearly a full year into the new Jamaican Government's term. A new board of directors appointed by Minister of Sports Olivia 'Babsy' Grange has come to the decision that they are going to look into Andrews' management of the institution during his 13 years in charge.