'Stolen parts' used in JEEP
Published:Tuesday | January 24, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
WITH THE Government revving the engine of its highly touted Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), aspects of which are expected to hit the road tomorrow, members of the former administration are declaring that soon-to-be-unveiled elements of the jobs plan are not a creation of the People's National Party (PNP).
Eleven members of parliament (MPs), nine of whom are from the governing PNP, are to select more than 600 of the 700 workers who will traverse sections of the island.
Simpson Miller announced on Sunday that it represents the first phase of the JEEP roll-out.
However, Shahine Robinson, who served as the transport and works minister toward the end of the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) term in office, said the employment programme "is not JEEP at all".
"How could it be JEEP? I signed the memorandum of understanding on December 5 between the National Works Agency and the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA)," Robinson told The Gleaner yesterday. "It is an IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) loan under their maintenance improvement programme."
She added: "I am surprised to hear that they are referring to it as JEEP ... . It is a performance-based road maintenance loan. I am just quite taken aback that somebody could inherit something that was there and put a totally different spin on it, rename it, and try to sell it as JEEP. It is not a JEEP programme."
A statement from Karl Samuda, opposition spokesperson on transport and works, releasedby the Office of the Leader of the Opposition later in the day, reiterated the former administration's claim that the first phase of the JEEP was no more than a rebranding of the IDB-funded programme.
Richard Azan, state minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, told The Gleaner yesterday that the $340-million programme was being funded by IDB.
Attempts by The Gleaner to get in touch with Azan for a clarification of the issues raised by Robinson proved unsuccessful up to press time.
In the meantime, the junior minister, in the earlier interview, sought to explain how the JEEP would work.
"The selection of the workers is done through the members of parliament from both political parties along with the National Solid Waste Management Authority," Azan said.
"The MPs have about 640 picks," he added.
Jolyan Silvera, the MP for West St Mary, said he has included the names of people from all political sides.
"I have always spoken about the inequality that was taking place. There was no proper balance, it was just leaning to one side. I have gotten my quota and I have struck a balance and I think it will work," Silvera told The Gleaner.
50-worker quota
The PNP MP said his quota was 50 workers and, based on consultations with councillors in his constituency, 10 of the people selected are supporters of the JLP, five did not vote in the last election and 35 were PNP supporters.
Robinson said she too has been given a quota and that she would leave the selection of workers up to the councillors in North East St Ann.
When the programme rolls out tomorrow morning, people in 11 constituencies across seven parishes will benefit. The works will touch constituencies in East and West Portland, South East, Central and Western St Mary, North East and North West St Ann, North Trelawny, West Central St James and East and West Hanover.
East Central St James, represented by the JLP's Edmund Bartlett, is the only constituency along the north-coast corridor that has not been included under the programme.
"Mr Bartlett's has been omitted because the Tourism Enhancement Fund is doing part of his constituency on that stretch," Azan said.
Asked whether the Government could guarantee that the programme would not be subjected to abuse for political reasons, Azan said: "We are not for that. I have given strict instructions to the NSWMA and the National Works Agency, if people are not performing we must remove them immediately. It is performance that we are looking for, we are looking for quality work."