PHILLIP PAULWELL, 1999

One of the bright stars of the PNP

PHILLIP PAULWELL is considered one of the bright stars of the People's National Party (PNP).

He first came to public attention the early 1990s as the Director of the Fair Trading Commission, where he was credited with giving the organisation the image of a tough regulator intolerant of unfair business practices.

He subsequently took the plunge into politics as Senator and Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce from 1995-1997.

Since then, his political rise as been meteoric. He is now the MP for East Kingston and Port Royal and Minister of Commerce and Technology since 1998.

His political stocks went up after he successfully negotiated away the telephone monopoly of Cable and Wireless that resulted in the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector 1n 1999. For his work in bringing about this new regime, the Minister received the Gleaner Honour Award 1999.

But recent events could serve to stall Mr. Paulwell's political career. Members of the public have been calling for his resignation over the Netserv scandal.

Some $180 million was pumped into the failed telecommunications company even after due diligence reports raised questions about the company and its principal Paul Pereira. Mr. Paulwell has said his "hands are clean" of corruption but there seems to been a growing consensus that he should take political responsibility and hand in his resignation.