Patterson
Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
RICHARD PATTERSON, son of Prime Minister P.J, Patterson, resigned from his post as an information technology consultant at the beleaguered National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), yesterday.
A high-ranking official of the NWSMA confirmed the resignation.
"Yes, it is true, he resigned today (yesterday)," the source said.
Mr. Patterson's resignation comes just two days after the Auditor General and the Contractor General delivered scathing reports to Parliament detailing startling levels of impropriety at the NSWMA.
On Thursday, Minister of Local Government Portia Simpson Miller instructed that the reports be turned over to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of Police.
The minister's instructions came a day after she told Parliament, in the face of intense pressure from Opposition members that "there is nowhere in the (Contractor General's) report or the Auditor General's report that said that I should send it to, or suggest that I should send it to the police."
Meanwhile, Derrick McKoy, the Contractor General who did not mince words in detailing the mismanagement at the solid waste agency, will not be renewing his commission as Contractor General.
Yesterday marked his last day in the post, just two days after he delivered the report condemning the NSWMA
"My commission has come to an end, this is my last day here," he told The Gleaner when contacted yesterday. However, he refused to comment further.
Acting chairman of the National Contracts Commission (NCC), Donald Miller, who took over from the late Leo Lawson, confirmed that the seven-year commission of the Contractor General had expired.
"He is retiring from the post, and another person will be named shortly. He had been in discussions internally and he knew the closing date was coming up ... the tenure is fixed for a term of seven years," Mr. Miller explained.
The commission of the Contractor General deals with the monitoring and investigation of irregularities and discrepancies in the award and implementation of contracts, and also makes recommendations to heads of departments, ministers and Parliament based on its findings.
Appointed on 28 July 1998, Mr. McKoy had succeeded Mr. Gordon Wells who followed Mr. Aston Wright in the post of Contractor General.
McKoy's tenure was marked with incisive comments on the performance of the construction system, but also carried worrying revelations of cost overruns, improper tendering procedures and evidence that public sector building sites were increasingly being afflicted by 'organised criminal management' and regulation of labour.
McKoy has also repeatedly criticised the award of contracts by Government departments for failing to follow established guidelines.
The Contractor General and the National Contracts Commission have separate responsibilities, and both function independently of each other.
