Bryan

Robert Bryan, executive director of Jamaica Cricket 2007 Ltd., is being courted to fill the seat of chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

Mr. Bryan, no stranger to the state-owned garbage collection company, was a member of the Alston Stewart-led board that resigned en bloc following an emergency meeting with then Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

The resignations came after weeks of controversy surrounding allegations of corruption and cronyism at the state agency.

However, Mr. Bryan told The Gleaner yesterday that he was a late addition to the board in 2005. He explained that he joined the board just before the allegations surfaced in March of that year.

While Mr. Bryan was mum on whether he has accepted the offer, he confirmed yesterday that talks are being held with Dean Peart, Minister of Local Government and Environment, about filling the position made vacant by tax services specialist Ethlyn Norton-Coke.

"I am not making a comment at the moment ... I have not arrived at a decision as yet," he said with a chuckle.

When pressed further, Mr. Bryan said: "I am having discussions with the minister (but) right now I am focused on Cricket World Cup ... don't want to get complacent or distracted."

Decision soon

Mr. Bryan pledged that he would declare his hand "soon", but said he was waiting for the appropriate time.

Efforts to contact Minister Peart were unsuccessful. He was said to be in a meeting. However, Ann-Marie Mittoo, director of communications in the ministry, said she had "no confirmation on Mr. Bryan's appointment at this time".

Bryan, who is hailed as one of the best event planners in the Caribbean, was appointed to lead Jamaica's local organising committee for Cricket World Cup after a stint at the Social Development Commission as that agency's executive director.

If appointed, Mr. Bryan will be the third chairman since the infamous April 2005 en bloc resignation.

The previous chairman, Mrs. Norton-Coke, along with three other board members, including the deputy chairman, tendered her resignation last month in the midst of a controversy surrounding the dismissal of former executive director Errol Greene.

Mr. Greene was reportedly dismissed following an investigation into irregularities at the agency. In September, he was sent on leave to facilitate an investigation into the allegations.

Mrs. Norton-Coke's resignation came less than a year after she had taken up the mantle from Prakash Vaswani in May last year.