POLITICAL BATTLE lines were drawn yesterday at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation's (KSAC) monthly meeting as People's National Party (PNP) councillors refused to approve the establishment of a procurement committee with a proposed ratio of six Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillors to their three.
The establishment of the procurement committee is one of the recommendations made by Greg Christie, Contractor General, who recently decried the KSAC's practice of awarding contracts.
Councillor Angela Brown-Burke, leader of the minority PNP councillors, said PNP councillors would not approve the establishment of a committee that would not allow them any say.
"We would not like to be a part of a committee that just has us in name only," she said.
PROPOSED RATIO
She explained that the proposed ratio, which included a JLP chairperson, would only serve the interests of the majority and eliminate studied approaches to the issues that would come before the committee.
The PNP councillors also recommended that the chairperson be an independent. However, that request was rejected by Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie as contrary to protocol.
Mayor McKenzie, who announced the proposed ratio, insisted that the committee had to be established yesterday.
However, the PNP councillors were resolute and would not budge. So intense was the deadlock that the mayor had to call a temporary recess. During the break, the JLP councillors retreated to the conference room, while the minority PNP councillors huddled together on their side of the council's chambers.
When the mayor and the other JLP councillors emerged, it was announced that they had retreated on the initial proposed ratio
and that the PNP councillors were now entitled to four members on the procurement committee. The committee was subsequently approved and established.
