By MCPHERSE THOMPSON, Staff reporter 
Davies and Shaw
OPPPOSITION Spokesman on Finance Audley Shaw is still seeking answers from Finance and Planning Minister Dr. Omar Davies as to why he had not used his unique constitutional position to save the country millions of dollars mismanaged through such projects as the information technology (Intec) Fund.
"My understanding of it is that the same power that the Minister has to intervene in a Century National Bank or an Eagle or another bank he closed down, once the proper monitoring is in place and when he saw the Intec Fund being mismanaged he could have frozen it," Mr. Shaw said.
According to him, Dr. Davies could have also frozen other public funds, such as those which were being used by the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) to implement housing projects under Operation PRIDE once it became clear that the money was being mismanaged.
He was speaking earlier this week at the annual economic seminar of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.
Although Dr. Davies had earlier addressed the seminar, held under the theme "Life & Debt: The Jamaican Experience", he did not respond to Mr. Shaw's queries. The Opposition Spokesman said he first raised the issue during the recent budget debate in Parliament but the Minister also did not address the matter when he closed the debate.
"I hope that the Minister, at some stage, will answer the question because I think it is important that we understand that the Minister has a role to intervene," said Mr. Shaw. "You have the power to intervene," he added, staring at Dr. Davies who was seated at the head table.
The question, said Mr. Shaw, was whether Dr. Davies did not consider that, given the unique role that the Constitution plays and provides for the Minister of Finance, the Ministry ought to have monitored more carefully what was happening with the Intec Fund, money used by the NHDC under Operation PRIDE, and the National Water Commission (NWC) "where we've lost out on at least $500 million" from multilateral institutions "just because of slackness and mismanagement." Mr. Shaw also referred to the signing, in 1997, of a $25 million contract to provide radar and landing equipment for the island's airports, but which was only now being implemented, which meant that additional funds would have to be committed to get it done. In addition, he said there was the continuing haemorrhaging of $1 billion annually in funds from the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).
Mr. Shaw contended that the Finance Minister could have frozen the funds in the same way that he had ordered financially troubled banks closed and then report the matter at the next meeting of the Cabinet. "That is the power of the Minister in relation to his powers under the Constitution," the Opposition Spokesman said.
