Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter
Norton-Coke
The no-nonsense chairperson of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Ethlyn Norton-Coke, has placed a ban on the engagement of external legal services by the agency. Her directive, issued last week, comes in light of the revelation that the agency's executive director, Errol Greene, had contracted the services of a law firm, without approval of the board.
"They (the law firm) have already undertaken some of the work (but) the board is contending that I shouldn't have contracted a lawyer ..." Greene told The Sunday Gleaner. "I told them (the board) that if it was a problem, I don't have a difficulty paying for it (the legal work done)," he stated emphatically.
When pressed as to why he had hired a company that was not approved by the board to be among the pool of legal teams eligible to work for the NSWMA, Mr. Greene highlighted the law firm's track record. "They do work for a lot of Government agencies, a lot of local authorities, and at one time, they worked for the Ministry of Local Government," he said.
irregularities and mismanagement
Mrs. Norton-Coke, a lawyer and accountant by training, took over the chair of the NSWMA earlier this year. The agency entered the public spotlight last year March with revelations, first reported by The Sunday Gleaner, of irregularities and mismanagement at the waste disposal agency. These allegations were later substantiated by investigations carried out by the Contractor General and Auditor-General. These probes were ordered by then Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who is now Prime Minister. Following the report of the findings, the Alston Stewart-led board resigned en bloc.
In April of this year, news of contractual irregularities at the NSWMA led the board to give the Errol Greene-led management team 60 days to correct the breaches in protocol. It was reported then that $40 million had been spent without the board's approval.
In reacting to this latest episode, Mrs. Norton-Coke told The Sunday Gleaner that the NSWMA did not have a contract with the law firm Mr. Greene said he hired. "All we got was a quotation and we rejected it and said that we will go to the Solicitor General," she exclaimed. She added: "It was discussed at the meeting and we said no, these people have not been through the contractor general and we took the decision that we will give the work to the solicitor general." The NSWMA chairperson stressed that there was no need for the agency to hire external lawyers when a lawyer was employed to the local government ministry, in addition to the services of the solicitor general's office.
procurement breaches
In addition, Sunday Gleaner sources also revealed that procurement procedures were breached in engaging the services of the law firm. When quizzed on the matter, Mr. Greene refused to deny or confirm the claim. However, he insisted that the urgency of the situation demanded
drastic action. "Given the urgency of the situation, I took whatever decision I thought was in the best interest of the authority. All I am saying is that I did what I had to do in the interest of time to get the work done." When pressed to reveal if all the procurement protocols had been observed, Mr. Greene replied: "That's all I am prepared to say at this time."
Mr. Greene explained that the contract for sweeping and collecting garbage had expired in June and he was asked by the Minister (of Local Government) to do "everything within my power" to ensure that these contracts were ready in the prescribed period. "We were given three months' extension by the Contractor General and I don't believe that we should do contracts without the input of (legal) authorities."
