THE OPPOSITION Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has criticised the significant increase in the advertising and public relations budgets of four Government agencies in the months leading up to the October 16 general election last year.
Audley Shaw, Opposition spokesman on Finance, had posed questions to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, who provided the answers during yesterday's sitting of the House of Representatives.
The four agencies are the National Housing Trust (NHT), the National Works Agency (NWA), the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) and HEART Trust/NTA. The period in question is July 15, 2002 to October 15, 2002.
Mr. Shaw yesterday suggested the increased expenditure was timed to coincide with the election which the People's National Party (PNP) won with a drastically reduced majority. He accused the governing party of "playing politics" with its "land for the landless slogan".
The Prime Minister responded sharply: "Providing land for the landless has always been an objective of this Government".
In relation to the NHT, the Prime Minister revealed that the total amount spent during the period was just more than $11 million. This is significantly more than the $5.455 million spent during the corresponding period in 2001.
In justifying the expenditure, the Prime Minister pointed to an extended and stepped up advertising
campaign by the NHT in respect to Emancipation Park, which it constructed at a cost of near $100 million.
The programme entailed video coverage which captured the work in progress at the park; advertising seeking park managers; programme for monument design and selection; and public relations campaign designed to educate the public on the rules and uses of the park.
"In keeping with its corporate objectives the Trust expanded its advertising and public relations programme to fully inform the public of this project," Mr. Patterson said.
The NHT also undertook advertising and public relations in respect to its decision to lower interest rates last year from previous levels of eight to 12 per cent to seven to nine per cent. Its 25th anniversary celebrations and its computers in schools project also factored.
At the NWA, advertising and public relations fees jumped from $794,476 for the corresponding three-month period in 2001 to $2.196 million last year.
Over at the NHDC, the advertising and public relations budget skyrocketed from $68,555 for the same three months in 2001 to a staggering $6.339 million in 2002.
Mr. Patterson, in downplaying the increase, said the expenditure "must be looked at in the context of the challenges facing the company during the period".
He pointed out that a new Minister, Board and managing director were put in place in April 2002 and given a certain mandate by the Cabinet. This was in the aftermath of the Operation PRIDE/NHDC scandal which led to the resignation of Dr. Karl Blythe, former Water and Housing Minister.
Mr. Patterson argued the new Board and management therefore had to restore confidence and credibility in the operations of the organisation. Also, he said there was the need to encourage PRIDE beneficiaries to continue paying for the benefits they had previously received. He said the NHDC had committed itself to delivering 30,000 housing lots during the period.
During the same period last year the HEART Trust/NTA spent $8.363 million on public relations and advertising. It spent $6.4 million during the previous period. Much of the increase is blamed on the publication of the Heart Trust's annual report at a cost of $1.558 million.
