CONSULTANT TO the Ministry of Transport, Dr. Alton Fletcher, has replaced Helen Byles as vice-president for Human Resources at the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).
It was not clear up to last night whether Mrs. Byles' contract had come to an end or she had been asked to leave. Mrs. Byles was responsible the JUTC staff recruitment process which was criticised by the KPMG Peat Marwick audit of the bus company.
"Weaknesses in the recruitment process, had resulted in the employment of persons in positions for which they were not qualified," said the report which was released to the public recently.
The report also found that the company was technically bankrupt as its negative net worth as at February 2002, stood at $1.13 billion. In addition, the accumulated deficit of $2.63 billion to February 2002, was equivalent to the total revenue that would be collected over 19 months.
Sources close to the state-owned bus company said Dr. Fletcher took over the post last week following her departure.
Dr. Fletcher, who is a former JUTC board member and consultant to the Transport Ministry, was reportedly recruited because of his strong background in transportation. He came back to Jamaica from New York in April 1994, and was given the task of overhauling the bus service in the KMTR. This included the setting up of a franchise system, which was eventually scrapped by the Government.
