Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter

A war of words has developed between the Junior Local Government Minister Harry Douglas and Contractor General Greg Christie over procurement procedures to be applied to programmes under the purview of parish councils.

Mr. Douglas went as far as to tell Mr. Christie that "your skirt seems to be showing," to which Christie replied "I own no skirts".

Distressed and dismayed

The brouhaha started yesterday when Mr. Douglas questioned the Contractor General's competence in the post when, in a statement issued to the media, he said he was "distressed and dismayed" after he read an e-mail sent to Power 106 talk show host, Wilmot Perkins.

The email, sent by Mr. Christie to the host of the popular talk show, Perkins Online, claimed the Contractor General was not until Monday aware of a 2001 Cabinet decision on procurement procedures, which Local Government Minister Dean Peart said last week had been discussed with him.

In Parliament last week Tuesday, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding took Mr. Peart to task when he pointed out that the Cabinet decision, based on a July 2001 submission, had removed the previous requirement of competitive tender for contracts amounting to less than $250,000.

The competitive tender for such contracts is at the heart of the disputed audit of Jamaica Labour Party-controlled parish councils, which have been accused of breaching procurement procedures.

In disagreeing with Mr. Golding's assertions in Parliament, Mr. Peart had claimed that he was informed by the Contractor General that contracts, regardless of their value should be put to competitive bidding.

In his explanation, Mr. Peart had suggested the Cabinet decision had been reversed after a conversation between himself and Mr. Christie.

But yesterday in the e-mail read on Perkins Online, Mr. Christie denied he had any knowledge of the Cabinet decision and that he had never spoken with Mr. Peart about the matter.

"I wish to categorically state that I have never met the Hon. Minister nor have I ever had any such discussion or agreement with the Minister as alleged," the Contractor General said.

"I shall wish to state also that a copy of the document embodying the referenced Cabinet decision was first shown to Mr. Percival Griffiths, the Director of Licences and Permits in the OCG, on Thursday, November 9, 2006."

The Contractor General said further checks within his office had revealed that there was no evidence the Cabinet decision had been communicated to the OCG. He said the first time he saw the document was on Monday, November13.

However, in his issued statement, Mr. Douglas was critical of the Contractor General, arguing that "any reasonable person must conclude that Mr. Greg Christie ... is administering an Act of Parliament and its various amendments which he does not understand or know"

The junior local government minister added: "Is the answer blown in the wind? Mr. Christie, your skirt seems to be showing."

Mr. Douglas told The Gleaner last night that he stood by his statement.

Said he: "The statement is a statement of fact. The Cabinet decision is five years and three months old".

He said that Mr. Christie, in taking on the job as Contractor General, should have acquainted himself with the information.

"For him to acknowledge that (this is) the first time he is seeing this letter ... that is speaking volumes because he is administering justice and an Act of Cabinet is five years and three months."

The Contractor General, who stressed that he owned no skirts, said Mr. Douglas was in no position to tell him when he should see documents.

"I can't respond to something like that, I have had no discussions with Mr. Douglas on the issue so I don't think that he is in a position to tell us what we know from what we don't know," Christie said.