Tyrone Reid, Staff ReporterAFTER SEVERAL marathon meetings, the Board of the National Solid Waste Manage-ment Authority (NSWMA) has officially signed off on a report, which sources say, "will play down" the charges of corruption and irregularities that have rocked the agency.
"The Board of the National Solid Waste Management Authority has met to discuss the allegations levied in the press over the past few days and has subsequently formulated a report as requested by the Minister of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, (Portia Simpson Miller)" the NSWMA said in a release yesterday.
The agency added that the report has been forwarded to Minister Simpson Miller and will be released to the public on Monday.
However, according to Gleaner sources, the report is unlikely to end the controversy surrounding operations at the state agency as it "raises more questions than answers."
"This is nothing short of a joke," one insider noted. "How can a board be asked to investigate itself? How can persons who are at the heart of the corruption be charged with the responsibility of writing the report? The public is being taken for a ride here and this is just another example of the incompetence that has been plaguing the Ministry of Local Government."
The source continued: "What Minister Portia Simpson Miller needs to do is to tell the nation about what she knows and when she became aware of it. Hiding
behind spin doctors and hoping things will go away will not help the situation. She needs to tell us why she has not been attending meetings and why the NSWMA, for the past three years, had become a government operating outside of a government. Certainly the public deserves better."
The Gleaner has been reliably informed that the board, after meeting for approximately 12 hours on Thursday, absolved itself and management from all wrong doing.
"We have found no corruption to date that we can put our fingers on," one board member said.
The source added: "There are rumours out there and we want to clear the air. We have to make sure that everything is transparent."
He, however, conceded that the investigations by board members had not gone far enough, noting that there may still be problems ahead.
"If the auditor-general comes in and finds corruption, no problem... and anyone who is involved we will throw them to the wolves," the insider said.
He pointed out that a particular problem that may yet come to light is the awarding of contracts to People's National Party activists to the tune of millions of dollars annually and which were not put out to tender.
"One person in particular was getting a lot of contracts and his contracts were not going through the proper National Contracts Commission procedures... Government regulations say if you are going to give out a contract it should be put to tender," the insider added.
There have also been reports of collusion and kickbacks, where persons connected to the NSWMA were said to be fronting for others. "I don't think the country would begin to understand the level of corruption we are talking about here," another source noted. "Forget NetServ and the NHDC, this has to be the worst we have ever seen. If the facts ever get out then certainly heads would roll."
Of great significance is the fact that the board's report is independent of the Ministry-commissioned probe, which is being spearheaded by the contractor general and the ministry's Internal Audit Department.
