JDIP and fall back

Orville Taylor, Contributor

OK, now we have found another reason why we might not want to vote for the incumbent Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Or have we? Although it's early days yet, we got our wish. The chief executive officer of the National Works Agency (NWA) Wong-footed us and 'resigned'.

Before the matter could be buried, Minister of Transport and Works Mike Henry, who is also the JLP's chairman, followed in his wake, and less than the ninth night after the 'unsolicited' resignation, calls are being made for his demitting Parliament.

That much was stinking about the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) is an understatement, and even without a proper post-mortem being done, the stench of corruption and incompetence has attracted all the requisite maggots, including this writer. It is suggested that Henry terminated his own appointment because of mounting pressure. Hasty to judge, the Opposition People's National Party (PNP), licking its lips, can now clearly elevate Dr Omar Davies to the heroic status Dr Peter Phillips now enjoys, because he has uncovered a mother of all scandals.

Yet, inasmuch as the auditor general has found much for which the minister and CEO should answer, investigations are still going on and the rules of natural justice dictate that not only should charges be laid, if any, but a full opportunity must be given for the 'accused' to respond to all allegations and mount a defence.

Was Wong wrong?

It should also be noted that the departed CEO, Patrick Wong, has not flinched and has continued to argue that he has done nothing wrong. Despite what looks like a mountain range of evidence, the inquiries have not been completed, the pathologist suspects foul play, but there is no final report. Therefore, whatever might be the outcry from civil society and the PNP, neither Wong nor Henry can be punished until their guilt has been fully determined.

If the JLP spin doctors want to twist and make mileage out of it, and their lackey affiliate, G2K, has tried, it could be a golden opportunity for Prime Minister of Education Andrew Holness to look like the real deal, the hope for the future, the antithesis to the PNP and its Jurassic leaders, in short, the Anti-Portia. It is significant that he was not deeply involved with Manatt and had his own well-performing ministerial portfolio when JDIP was fermenting. Although Davies rightly argues that Holness and the entire Government backed the project, it is difficult to suggest that he had the same level of accountability as Henry, despite the notion of Cabinet collective responsibility. If that is the case, the entire Government should resign. Oh, he would like that.

His taking over of JDIP is prime ministerial, and although he did not turn up to face the starter when the matter came up the following week, it can be seen as analogous to Bolt not being willing to the face the short man who is on fire and who he is ill-prepared to beat. Thus, when the next race was run, he had already conquered the Wong and Henry rounds. Nonetheless, if Henry was not asked to resign, it was not his prime ministerial initiative but rather, leadership by default. Strike one, Andrew.

Holness might consider himself impregnable, but this is a scandal of a different breed. His appointment of Shahine Robinson to head the ministry is as smart a move as his going to visit Manatt protagonist Harold Brady on the eve of the departure of his mentor, Bruce Golding, with whom Brady has a legal matter in court.

True, he is sucking up some of the woman vote, but there is a Fern Gully construction project going on in her constituency, which her next-door MP, Lisa Hanna, complains is not being carried out transparently. Furthermore, an erstwhile American citizen who it is believed was not truthful about her status as she took her oath of office is hardly the paragon of virtue one would want to embellish the now seriously tainted project. But then again, she might just be the right person for the job. Strike two, Andrew.

JLP MP imprisoned

Holness and his Labourite clan should not forget that despite the arrest of PNP MP Kern Spencer, the conviction of officials of Trafigura Beheer by the Dutch judiciary, and the numerous unanswered questions by the recalcitrant PNP, the only party, in my recollection, which has had a member of parliament convicted for corruption in his ministerial portfolio has been from the JLP. In the early 1990s, former Minister of Labour J.A.G. Smith was imprisoned for misappropriation of funds from the overseas-employment programme. At the time, some of the very JLP players now were members of parliament, although then in opposition. Advantage, PNP.

Interestingly, the pre-judgers are clamouring for the resignation of permanent secretary in the transport and works ministry, Dr Alwin Hales. This issue should be classified with the non-penalising of Solicitor General Douglas Leys for his complicity in Manatt dealings with the Government ... Oops! JLP. Hales has taken leave and he is perhaps taking a leaf out of Leys' book. That text was written by this JLP administration.

With the green paint still wet on the Vale Royal walls, then Prime Minister Bruce Golding dismissed the Public Service Commission, ostensibly because it wanted an acquiescent set of persons, and not one which independently wanted to appoint the most suited candidate for solicitor general, Stephen Vasciannie. Making no bones about it having a neutral public sector, Minister of Education Holness defended the appointment of Alphansus Davis as chair of the Teachers' Service Commission in a live interview with me on national radio. For him, the commission must not be independent but, on the contrary, must carry out the policies of the Government. Such an environment is fertile ground for corruption and is a dangerous place for servants of the state to work within.

Thus, far from the Westminster ideal of a neutral public sector, it wants neutered government workers. Therefore, in a government where G2K says Labourites should abound; which attempted to emasculate the chairman of the Police Federation; which dictated to workers that they would not get their legally entitled seven per cent increase; and has now interdicted the president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Jamaica for standing up for workers' rights, what would one have expected Hales to do? One obeys the dictates of the politician, swallows one's pride, sings castrato and plays ball, or one leaves the game with it intact.

Not-so-good past

The matter is compounded by the history of the ministry. The last permanent secretary who stood up against corruption in the very same place was Ted O'Gilvie, who was assassinated in 1979, in the last year of the PNP administration. Hmm! Hales, assuming that he is a professional civil servant, could have been caught between the rock of the public-service regulations and guidelines and the hard place of his minister. If pressured to ignore the guidelines, he must be seen as less culpable.

Yet, if it is found that he was not simply acting under instructions, he must share the guilt. After all, Smith's co-conspirator, Permanent Secretary Probyn Aiken, also got a small sentence for his role. However, let the process of justice be completed.

Andrew Holness, back on strike!

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.