Vin Lawrence recall a retrograde step

Matthew Samuda, Guest Columnist

Dr Vin Lawrence certainly has a picturesque résumé. At a glance, it is laden with public-sector appointments and private-sector interests.

An engineer by profession, his list of appointments (past and present) would include:

• Being at the helm of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC).
• Serving as a member of the Air Jamaica board, before becoming executive chairman.
• Chairman of National Hotels and Properties, the Jamaica Bauxite and Aluminium Trading Company.
• Deputy chairman of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.
• Directorships for the National Investment Bank of Jamaica, along with Petrojam, and Clarendon Alumina Production Ltd.
• Membership of the executive committee of West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco) and Jamalco, as well as membership of the committee of St Ann Bauxite Company Limited.

Now in his private-sector life:

• Lawrence is chairman of Gentech Consultants Ltd, Jamaica Engineering and Technical Services Ltd, Gentech Exploration Services Ltd, and Lawrence & Associates.
• Politically, he is no stranger to the landscape. It is well known that he has, in the past, been a high-ranking member of the National Executive Council of the ruling People's National Party, served as its treasurer for quite some time, and is a respected party statesman. Now at a glance, it would seem he is an ideal candidate for consideration to lead any project or enterprise team, including the beleaguered 381MW project and non-starter Caymanas Economic Zone project.

But projects of this nature require, and no doubt deserve, more than a glance when choosing teams and team leaders to guide them. Let's not regurgitate the importance of either of these mega projects. What we will remind Jamaicans is that delays in both cases has cost us untold sums in opportunity cost.

MORE THAN A GLANCE

If you don't know your history, you're doomed to repeat it. In the case of Dr Vin Lawrence, we know our history, and it is not one which should be wantonly disregarded. The reality is that it is a matter of public record that in his tenure at the helm of the UDC, the contractor general found that he erred in his handling of the Sandals Whitehouse matter, leading to significant cost overruns.

It has been referred to as the ghost of the Sandals Whitehouse in the media. Ghost stories never die. In this story there is a chapter which was written by then Contractor General Greg Christie. The chapter we speak of was in the form of the report into the alleged mismanagement of the project. The report accused government entities and officials, including then chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Dr Vin Lawrence, of committing flagrant breaches of procurement procedures on the controversial Sandals Whitehouse construction project.

In the storied report on the contractor general's investigation into the now-infamous Westmoreland hotel project, it was noted that the project incurred multimillion US-dollar overruns. The 73-page report claimed Dr Lawrence, who has since left the UDC, which was designated the project manager in 2001, acted in conflict of interest when awarding some of the contracts on the project.

It was also noted that there was an J$18.8-million contract that was awarded to Gentech Consultants Limited, which is a civil and structural engineering entity, and as mentioned, Dr Lawrence was a long-standing shareholder and director.

The report went on to state: "The referenced circumstances have undoubtedly raised compelling evidence of a conflict of interest, and absence of transparency, a lack of competition and the absence of arm's-length approach in the award of the subject consultancy contracts."

The report had gone on to say: "We would respectfully recommend that the legislature act decisively and with urgency to ensure that public bodies and public officials who, with flagrant and glaring impunity, ignore the Government's procurement procedures are made to be held punitively accountable for their misdeeds and breach of the public's trust."

Consistent Disregard for OCG

I am not surprised by the continued disregard shown for the OCG. The situation, however, does beg the question, if we are using the OCG's report as the basis for criticising Minister Phillip Paulwell's performance, how are we going to use a man who was criticised by the OCG in the past to manage the energy process and, by extension, the Caymanas project?

We can't support that! It is my opinion that it would be the honourable thing for Dr Vin Lawrence to recuse himself.

Now we don't expect that. The PNP is not noted for doing the honourable thing! We hate feeling like a broken record, but the reality is that the PNP's record is indeed broken! The party was littered with a myriad of scandals and instances where the opportunity existed to do the honourable thing and was scoffed at. The PNP continues to be an arrogant administration laden with baggage of political nepotism.

Recent examples of this include the Spaldings Market affair, the attempts to weaken the role of the OCG, and the 381MW project. In all cases, it has reflected an assault on decency, accountability and transparency.

Tempering Of Expectations

No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. However, in closing, there are some facts we would like the public to consider:

One year has been wasted in the bungling associated with the procurement process for the 381MW project. This, while you have paid considerably more than your Caribbean neighbours for electricity.

The bungling continues with the Government appearing to be unclear of the very regulations applying to the procurement process and having now to clear up the legislation on the back end for authority to be given to ESET to carry out its mandate as opposed to the OUR.

The delays thus far make expectations of cheaper energy in 2016 highly unlikely! So this will end up being an unfulfilled promise of this administration and, indeed, stunt our economic growth.

Matthew Samuda is a vice-president of Generation 2000, an affiliate of the Jamaica Labour Party. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.