- Rudolph BrownJamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader, Edward Seaga (left) and the party's spokesman on finance, Audley Shaw discuss a report on Operation PRIDE schemes at a press conference yesterday.
AMID GROWING evidence of irregularities at the Government-run National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC), the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party yesterday called for the Fraud Squad to be brought in to investigate the activities of the agency.
The party's leadership also dismissed attempts by Water and Housing Minister Dr. Karl Blythe to explain huge cost overruns on Operation PRIDE projects, insisting that he should resign.
Operation PRIDE which was set up to provide houses primarily for low income Jamaicans, is managed by the NHDC.
"I don't know how Mr. P.J. Patterson (the Prime Minister) conducts his affairs, but if Mr. Blythe was a member of my Cabinet I would have to remove him immediately," Mr. Seaga said yesterday.
Mr. Seaga's call which was made at a hastily called press conference at the party's Belmont Road headquarters in Kingston, follows Thursday's media briefing in Montego Bay where Dr. Blythe sought to explain the extensive over-expenditure on the PRIDE schemes, as recorded in a report done for the NHDC.
The Minister had also used the occasion to address the resignation of Christopher Honeywell, managing director of the NHDC, and his decision to overturn the recommended firing of four employees. Since the Minister's intervention, they have been suspended pending further investigations.
Both the Minister and the NHDC Board chairman Michael Vascianna have questioned aspects of the report and have also refused to say who conducted the audit of the projects.
Sources told The Gleaner the report was put together by a team of certified engineers and quantity surveyors and had a price tag of $3 million.
Mr. Honeywell reportedly ordered the audit after he became dissatisfied with how PRIDE funds were being managed.
Mr. Vascianna said on Thursday the suspended employees had been negligent in their duties with one admitting that he had not visited some sites before signing off on payments. Mr. Honeywell reportedly resigned after refusing to approve a $35 million payment on a PRIDE project but the Minister insisted he had stepped down for personal and health reasons.
At Thursday's press conference in Montego Bay, Dr. Blythe said the Permanent Secretary in his Ministry will now have to approve any expenditure above $1 million and promised an audit of all the agencies in his Ministry.
The JLP, however, dismissed the Minister's attempts saying they were coming "after the horse has bolted". Mr. Seaga also urged an immediate discontinuation of work on all Operation PRIDE sites; the appointment of an independent auditor/auditing company to review all expenditure on PRIDE projects; and for a further audit by Auditor-General Adrian Strachan of all PRIDE schemes.
Meanwhile, Audley Shaw, the JLP's spokesman on finance, dismissed the Minister's questioning of the report that focused on 10 of the more than 100 PRIDE schemes, insisting that it was done by professionals. It found that the 10 schemes were originally estimated to cost $1.7 billion but are likely to end up costing a whopping $7.2 billion.
