THE MILLWOOD award must rank as one of the largest ever made against the Government, too big to be swept under the carpet. With accrued interest, the total amount of the award is now about $12 billion and increasing daily in on-going interest charges while the government, in shock at the amount of the award, considers trying for a judicial review. To add to its worries, Mr. Arthur Chin of the Conurban Transit Company, another former franchisee, is threatening to sue the Government for a similar amount.
The public is entitled to know who is responsible for such incompetence or negligence in dealing with taxpayers' money and if, as Mr. Burchell Whiteman, Minister of Information, says, there is collective responsibility for what has transpired, then we wait to see what action the Government will take to purge itself of such a flagrant breach of public trust.
Of all areas of civil law, the rules and precedents governing breach of contact actions have perhaps been more fully explored, defined and documented than any other. Why did the then Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips, and his legal team, not take these factors into consideration when the decision was taken to breach the franchise contract? Was the matter referred to the Attorney-General for his opinion? And if it turns out that Mr. Chin has a case, was the previous settlement with him made conditional on a "full and final release" which, if properly drawn, would preclude him from reopening the matter?
When two parties agree to go to arbitration they also usually agree that the award will be binding on both of them unless some fundamental point of law has been misconstrued. It is difficult to conceive that such a distinguished panel as the one in this case could have made any such mistake. We are of course not privy to all the facts but the Government will have to weigh carefully whether to bite the bullet and settle with Mr. Millwood to stop interest accruing or to try to appeal the award which might mean taking the matter to the Privy Council which in a similar case in Grenada decided that the Minister of Finance is personally liable for paying an award if it is upheld.
This entire scandal smacks of hubris in dealing with the affairs of the country which has transformed the Millwood caper into being a millstone around the Government's neck.
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