OCG alarmed over agriculture ministry's response to report

The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) has expressed alarm at the response of the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) to the release of its findings into multimillion-dollar consultancy contracts to businessman Aubyn Hill.



A release from the OCG took issue with the following statement made by the agriculture ministry, “… it would therefore be illogical, having obtained a Cabinet approval to contract Mr. Hill, to seek further approval from the lower levels of approval in the procurement system”.



The release went on to allege that both the “MAF’s Contracts Committee and the National Contracts Commission, which is an Independent Statutory Commission, were unlawfully bypassed by the MAF in its award of the subject consultancy contracts to Mr. Hill.”



The release pointed out that “effective December 2008, and by way of the order of the Cabinet of the Government of Jamaica itself, it is now a criminal offence, under the Public Sector Procurement Regulations, for Government contracts to be awarded in violation of the specified procurement procedures and protocols, irrespective of whether the Cabinet has approved a Government contract award or not.”



“In the circumstances, the Statement of the MAF, can only be construed as an open admission and declaration by the MAF’s Minister and its Permanent Secretary that they have, in point of fact, broken the law in the instant matter and will do so again if they should deem that compliance with the duly promulgated Laws of Jamaica, or submission to the jurisdiction of the NCC, is “illogical”, the release continued.



The OCG said that the release of the statement by a cabinet minister Dr. Christopher Tufton, and a permanent secretary Donovan Stanberry “called into question grave and fundamental issues of governance, the rule of law and accountability in the administration of the Jamaican public sector.”