Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
TAXPAYERS will be tagged with a bill in excess of $4 million for the Carl Patterson-led Commission of Enquiry into the 'Street People Scandal' which was wrapped-up earlier this year.
According to Derek Taylor, secretary of the commission, the "bill now stands at $4.2 million and counting as most of the outstanding claims have now come in."
However, the honorariums of the three commissioners who conducted the enquiry have not yet been paid.
"The documents setting out the rate at which they will be paid is with the financial controllers right now," Mr. Taylor said.
"The final bill may pass $5 million depending on whether there are bills outstanding that have not been taken care of yet," he added. "The commissioners' honorariums could be substantial, depen-ding on what is approved by the Ministry of Finance, but the commissioners have already been reimbursed for travelling and hotel rates."
The Ministry of Finance has not handed down any exceptional guidelines for the commissioners' per diem, but according to Mr. Taylor, "the rate was approximately $10,000 per day each with the chairman (Carl Patterson) getting a little bit more."
At least $2.5 million has been disbursed so far to cover expenses for the enquiry, which lasted over 30 days.
Some of the expenses included fees for using the Chatwick Gardens Centre, Montego Bay, to conduct proceedings, a public address system, travelling expenses, printing documents e.g 'binding the reports', and hotel expenses.
"There have been no unusual claims, things were kept very tight," Mr. Taylor said.
170-page report
The "Street People Scandal" - as it has been called - broke in July last year when more than 30 people living on the streets of Montego Bay were rounded up, bound with rope, pepper-sprayed, and dumped near a mud lake in St. Elizabeth.
After a public outcry, the Government set up an enquiry to determine the circumstances surrounding the forced removal of the street people.
Earlier this year, the commission submitted a 170-page report which concluded that Inspector Ainsworth Gidden and his five-member team actively co-operated and aided and abetted the operation and conspired to keep the facts hidden from the enquiry.
The commission swept aside any suggestion of political involvement in either the planning or execution of the operation, but pointed to Tubal Brown, the Superintendent of Roads and Works at the St. James Parish Council, as being part of a cover-up.
One of the recommendations from the Commission of Enquiry was that street persons receive money to maintain them, but there is still no indication as to when the Montego Bay street people will begin receiving the $20,000 monthly compensation announced by the Government in September.
"Democracy is very costly, it doesn't come at a cheap price," Dr. Wendel Abel, national co-ordinator of the Committee for Street People, said.
"One of things that the panel of trustees discussed last week is how would we ascertain the needs of each person, so we'll be using case management, that is a case-by-case investigation to find out how the $20,000 will be allocated to the individuals. Some might not have the capacity to handle money, but a social worker will be assigned to the panel of trustees to make sure things go smoothly."
Dr. Abel said that it would require an investment of $28 million to generate enough money to allow each street person to receive the $20,000 allotment.
