DEPUTY MAYOR of Kingston, Councillor Lee Clarke, has stated that the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) is not opposed to transparency in its operations.
The deputy mayor was reacting to comments about Tuesday's rejection by the Jamaica Labour Party-led council of a proposal from People's National Party minority leader, Councillor Angella Brown-Burke, to have the council post details of contracts of $120,000 and above on a website.
Councillor Clarke said that the KSAC does not have a website and, therefore, this proposal would have to await not only the construction of a website, but also annual funding to keep it active and up-to-date.
ATTEMPT TO SMEAR JLP
Councillor Clarke said: "The resolution brought by Councillor Brown-Burke was rejected because it was extremely narrow and confined the issue of transparency to the KSAC council. This was obviously a partisan political attempt to smear the JLP administration and create an image in the public's mind that the KSAC is notoriously corrupt. It was on this basis that the majority of councillors attending the meeting found unacceptable.
"Councillor Brown-Burke knows that the current administration supports transparency in both central and local government activities, and if she was genuinely interested in transparency in government, she could have sat with us and worked out a resolution that would have won the consensus of the entire council."
The deputy mayor said that the JLP administration at the KSAC has been firmly supportive of the Access to Information Act and has conformed with the requirements since its inception.
