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Can Mrs Gordon Webley bell the cat?
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
We don't for one moment envy Mrs Joan Gordon Webley the onerous task she has been assigned to clean up the unholy mess at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).
After listening to Mr Dean Peart, the former minister of local government, and Mr Bobby Montague, the now minister of state for local government in the Office of the Prime Minister, it is abundantly clear to us that this is not going to be any walk in the park.
Mr Peart, in a radio interview on Monday, made no attempt to deny Mr Montague's disclosure that the Metropolitan Parks and Markets (MPM), the arm of the NSWMA responsible for cleaning the city, had been spending an unbudgeted $20 million a month on its supplementary fleet of garbage trucks.
Neither was there any denial of his claims that trucks were frequently reported out of service but reappeared with different licence plates, and that contractors were being paid even while trucks were out of service.
For his part, Mr Montague, also in a radio interview, did not deny Mr Peart's claim that the contracts for the cleaning of the city were divided up between the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP).
This was on the basis that only JLP-connected contractors could operate in JLP strongholds and only PNP-connected contractors could operate in PNP enclaves in the city.
All this, by the way, comes after dismissals and resignations of boards and board chairmen, the most well-known of whom was Mr Alston Stewart, a close ally of the PNP.
In 2003, more than 30 employees, including two managers, were fired after an extensive internal audit uncovered the abuse of the supplementary fleet billing system. Two years later, the NSWMA was again under the microscope after a report by the contractor-general revealed that there were breaches in the award of contracts amounting to $2 billion.
The suggestion is that whatever hanky-panky there is, involved both of our major political parties. It will, therefore, be interesting to see how Mrs Gordon Webley will fare as executive director of the NSWMA.
We do not doubt her determination and her energy. But her task will entail wrenching off the political tentacles that have such a tenacious hold on the NSWMA. If she approaches the task with a sense that the country deserves better than what now prevails and that the organisation must no more be a political trough, she will be immensely unpopular, with both parties.
It is a job that will take more than good intentions. It will demand nerves of steel. And the PNP's opposition to Mrs Gordon Webley does not help. Frankly, the PNP is playing good old politics, because everyone knew that Mr Stewart was their man at the NSWMA.
What is needed is a more positive approach to deal with an intractable problem that stinks to high hell.
We note the suggestion by reader, Kevin K O Sangster of New Jersey, that the NSWMA be disbanded and each parish council given direct responsibility for its solid waste management.
But we do not believe that that would bring a final solution. All it would do is transfer the problem to the parishes. For all our sakes, we hope that Mrs Gordon Webley succeeds.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
We don't for one moment envy Mrs Joan Gordon Webley the onerous task she has been assigned to clean up the unholy mess at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).
After listening to Mr Dean Peart, the former minister of local government, and Mr Bobby Montague, the now minister of state for local government in the Office of the Prime Minister, it is abundantly clear to us that this is not going to be any walk in the park.
Mr Peart, in a radio interview on Monday, made no attempt to deny Mr Montague's disclosure that the Metropolitan Parks and Markets (MPM), the arm of the NSWMA responsible for cleaning the city, had been spending an unbudgeted $20 million a month on its supplementary fleet of garbage trucks.
Neither was there any denial of his claims that trucks were frequently reported out of service but reappeared with different licence plates, and that contractors were being paid even while trucks were out of service.
For his part, Mr Montague, also in a radio interview, did not deny Mr Peart's claim that the contracts for the cleaning of the city were divided up between the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP).
This was on the basis that only JLP-connected contractors could operate in JLP strongholds and only PNP-connected contractors could operate in PNP enclaves in the city.
All this, by the way, comes after dismissals and resignations of boards and board chairmen, the most well-known of whom was Mr Alston Stewart, a close ally of the PNP.
In 2003, more than 30 employees, including two managers, were fired after an extensive internal audit uncovered the abuse of the supplementary fleet billing system. Two years later, the NSWMA was again under the microscope after a report by the contractor-general revealed that there were breaches in the award of contracts amounting to $2 billion.
The suggestion is that whatever hanky-panky there is, involved both of our major political parties. It will, therefore, be interesting to see how Mrs Gordon Webley will fare as executive director of the NSWMA.
We do not doubt her determination and her energy. But her task will entail wrenching off the political tentacles that have such a tenacious hold on the NSWMA. If she approaches the task with a sense that the country deserves better than what now prevails and that the organisation must no more be a political trough, she will be immensely unpopular, with both parties.
It is a job that will take more than good intentions. It will demand nerves of steel. And the PNP's opposition to Mrs Gordon Webley does not help. Frankly, the PNP is playing good old politics, because everyone knew that Mr Stewart was their man at the NSWMA.
What is needed is a more positive approach to deal with an intractable problem that stinks to high hell.
We note the suggestion by reader, Kevin K O Sangster of New Jersey, that the NSWMA be disbanded and each parish council given direct responsibility for its solid waste management.
But we do not believe that that would bring a final solution. All it would do is transfer the problem to the parishes. For all our sakes, we hope that Mrs Gordon Webley succeeds.
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