View of the Riverton City landfill which falls under the National Solid Waste Management Agency.
Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
ROCKED BY allegations of corruption and mismanagement of funds at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Minister of Local Government and Sports, Portia Simpson Miller, has ordered investigations into operations at the state agency.
The probe, the Local Government Ministry disclosed, will look into spending that has thrust the agency into debt totalling $200 million. It will also investigate the purchase of five sports utility vehicles for employees without ministry approval, as well as reports that private contractors were brought in to replace dismissed workers at a hefty cost to the solid waste agency. The contractors were reportedly brought in to improve efficiency.
ACCESS ROAD IRREGULARITIES
Additionally, the ministry has commissioned the Contractor General to look into suspected irregularities surrounding the construction of an access road that leads to the Riverton City landfill in St. Andrew.
"The minister of local government held an emergency meeting with the board of the National Solid Waste Management Authority on March 1, at the end of which she requested a full review of the operations and funding requirements of the NSWMA," the ministry said in response to queries from The Sunday Gleaner.
"The Permanent Secretary, Loraine Robinson, has sought the intervention of the Office of the Contractor General and the Internal Audit Department of the Ministry of Local Government to carry out a review of the NSWMA," the statement added.
Auditor General Adrian Strachan's report for the financial year ended March 31, 2004, also raised concerns about operations at the NSWMA.
Mr. Strachan questioned the expenditure totalling $17 million which was allegedly used for repairing and servicing equipment. Another grouse is that the NSWMA has failed, for the second consecutive financial year, to present its financial statements.
"This breached the Public Bodies Accountability Act and prevented a proper assessment of the authority's financial state of affairs," Mr. Strachan noted.
The National Solid Waste Management Programme is jointly funded by the government and the Inter-American Development Bank. It is implemented by the Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Sports.
The main objectives of the programme are to improve the environment and sanitary conditions of the solid waste site in the Kingston Metropolitan area, and other non-active sites around the country, as well as to develop an action plan for an islandwide solid waste management programme.
Faced with a potentially embarrassing situation, especially when she is launching her leadership campaign, Mrs. Simpson Miller has reportedly taken her concerns to the prime minister, asking for his intervention into the matter.
OPPOSING VIEW
There is an opposing view that there is a plan at work to smear and undermine the agency's executive chairman, Alston Stewart. There are also reports that the monetary shortfall the agency is now experiencing could see as many as 1,000 employees losing their jobs. The NSWMA board of directors is, however, said to be working assiduously to ensure that the employees are protected.
Mr. Stewart, though, has unequivocally denied that there would be layoffs, saying "that is totally incorrect".
There has been no word as to when the investigation at the state-owned solid waste agency will be completed.
