OK, time for Portia to step down

[Exile]

Gov. money...cause the usual 7-day wonder...Gov. Ministers allowed a vehicle with duty free status...not sure about the intricacies...

[Hortical]

And where is the outrage from the Jamaican people? This sounds like a scratch record though with little outrage from the people...

[Skeng DX]

Delano Seiveright

Mr Golding took 15% pay cut & MPs 10%. PNP refused to follow. Golding drove in vehicle so small bodyguard couldn't fit in front seat.

[Exile]

Everytime you get a change of government, same 7-day wonder...unless there are strict guidelines that must be adhered to, you will always have this....maybe the Min of Agric shld get a tractor, Health an ambulance, Fisheries - a boat, Security a helicopter, External Affairs a prvt jet...housing a backhoe...and so on...put in in law....or just dont give any personal vehicle...assign it to the Ministry with huge labels on the side...

[Mosiah]

what is your point?

[Exile]

Bling.

[Skeng DX]

answering gamma γ

[Mosiah]

Well, I am outraged and it means I may have to vote for Betty Ann Blaine next election.

[Exile]

Him sey Jamaican people...yu tekking the motto too far now..

[Bricktop]

Outrage from the Jamaican people doesn't change policy...it gets you chained up to HWT clock and ridiculed...

[Mosiah]

oh!

[Mosiah]

heh heh!

[Skeng DX]

Former JLP ministers snap up gov't rides
Thursday, March 22, 2012



TEN former ministers in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration opted to purchase the motor vehicles which were assigned to them in keeping with government's policy for the disposal of assets.
All but one of the cars sold to the former ministers was at least three years old as set out in the policy guidelines, Minister of Information Sandrea Falconer revealed yesterday (March 21).

Of note the oldest car — a 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon, sold to former Finance Minister Audley Shaw — was the most expensive, going for $1,940,000, according to brief provided by Falconer.

The least expensive was a 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser approved for sale to former National Security Minister Dwight Nelson for $539,879.

This is the only vehicle of the 10 for which payment has not yet been received, and was the last approved for sale on March 2.
Falconer made the disclosure at the weekly press briefing at Jamaica House amid allegations that Government ministers were buying expensive cars above the approved price ceiling.

Falconer disclosed that a 2009 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado was sold to former Minister of Sport Olivia 'Babsy' Grange for $1,830,276.

Being a 2009 vehicle, it would have fallen short of the three-year minimum period in which ministers would have had a vehicle assigned them and have to option to purchase.

"It was almost three years old, so it had to have the approval of the minister of finance and planning, who is authorised to approve the sale of all government vehicles," stated Sheila Wong, director of asset management in the Ministry of Finance at the press briefing.

According to a document supplied by Falconer, the approval date for the sale of the vehicle to Grange was December 21 last year, eight days before the general election in which the JLP was voted out of office.
Of the 10 vehicles sold to the former ministers, five were approved for sale between December 1 and December 21 last year. The other five were approved for sale between December 30, 2011 and March 2 this year.

Apart from the vehicles sold to Grange and Shaw, all the others were 2006 to 2008 models.
There were eight Toyota Land Cruisers among the lot, with the other two being Mitsubishi Pajeros.
Other former ministers purchasing government vehicles were JC Hutchinson, Shahine Robinson, Edmund Bartlett, Arthur Williams, Warren Newby, Dr Kenneth Baugh, and Daryl Vaz.
Meanwhile, among the ministers in the present Administration, only Minister of Finance Dr Peter Phillips and State Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce Sandra Ffolkes-Abrahams have purchased new vehicles for their use. This they have done within the approved maximum of US$35,000, Falconer disclosed.
All other ministers are currently driving their own vehicles or have been assigned vehicles they inherited from the previous Administration, the information minister stated.

Wong outlined government's motor vehicle policy, which showed that the maximum CIF value (cost, insurance and freight) was raised in 2007 and 2011 and now stands at US$35,000.

The policy, which sets out the conditions under which minister can be assigned vehicles, how they can be sold, and how the price is calculated, is available on the ministry's website.

[Mosiah]

She just doesn't get it! So what if she did the right thing and refused a new vehicle?!? She authorised the purchase of the rest!

PM Simpson-Miller defends purchase of SUVs
16 minutes ago

At a public forum held in Mount Salem, St. James last night, Prime Minister of Jamaica Portia Simpson-Miller defended the Government's decision to purchase high end vehicles at a cost of over $60 million.

Mrs Simpson-Miller informed that the vehicle she currently has, was assigned to previous Prime Ministers and although her office implored that they purchase "a proper vehicle", she stated that she needed to set the example and preferred that the other Ministers obtain new vehicles before she received one. There has been public outcry following the revelation that 16 SUVs were among the new vehicles purchased for current Ministers of Government and approved by Cabinet at a tune of $60 million. Founder of the New Nation Coalition Betty-Ann Blaine also blasted the decision by the Government to purchase these new vehicles.

[Mosiah]

It's all criminal!