Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
THE REPORT on the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) will be made public tomorrow when Local Government Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, is expected to make a presentation to Parliament.
Information Minister, Senator Burchell Whiteman told journalists at yesterday's post-Cabinet briefing at Jamaica House that the NSWMA report was discussed at the meeting of Cabinet yesterday.
While declining to divulge the findings and recommendations, Senator Whiteman said the matter would be fully discussed in the House of Representatives where a Ministry Paper will also be tabled with the report.
"There are some general statements, which indicate that ... there were serious breaches of procedure but beyond that I am not prepared to comment. Forty-eight hours is not a long time to wait to hear the minister's report," said Senator Whiteman in response to questions from journalists.
The Information Minister said that the Auditor General is still conducting investigations at the NSWMA and a report should be provided at a later date.
The report comes in the wake of discrepancies which were discovered earlier this year in the management of the facility.
The agency was rocked by charges of corruption and mismanagement of funds, some of which were contained in an Auditor General's report. Mrs. Simpson Miller then solicited the services of the Contractor General, the Auditor General, and the Internal Audit Department of the Local Government Ministry to look into the allegations.
In addition to investigating irregularities surrounding the awarding of contracts, the Ministry of Local Government-commissioned inquiry was to look into spending that had thrust the agency into debt totalling $200 million. This expenditure included the purchase of five sport-utility vehicles for employees without the ministry's approval.
Among other duties, the office of the Contractor-General was commissioned to investigate suspected irregularities surrounding the construction of an access road that leads to the Riverton City landfill in St. Andrew.
The entire board of the agency, including its executive chairman, Alston Stewart, resigned en bloc after an emergency meeting convened by Mrs. Simpson Miller.
Since then, Errol Greene, Town Clerk of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation, was appointed to head the agency for three months.
