Garwin Davis, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Montague

Prime Minister Bruce Golding has ordered Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, Robert Montague, to investigate the manner in which contracts are awarded at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), telling the junior minister to "clean up the mess" at the problem-plagued organisation.

Information reaching The Sunday Gleaner is that Golding is peeved at what he sees as the continued violations of the procurement guidelines at the NSWMA and the over $60 million in outstanding payments to contractors and suppliers.

Responding swiftly to his boss's request, Mon-tague, according to a memo obtained by this newspaper, has ordered an internal financial audit on "all earnings from the landfills" and on "all commercial accounts".

memo

The tersely worded memo, which was sent to Permanent Secretary Devon Rowe, also spoke of the need to rid the NSWMA of any appearance of cronyism, as well as the immediate need to invite applications for the position of executive director.

"After two visits to the offices of the NSWMA, I have observed a number of issues that ought to be corrected," Montague wrote. "There still seems to be instances where the procurement guidelines are not being followed. For example, a contract was issued for $8 million, yet no supporting documents are seen by me that the emergency guidelines were followed. Amazingly enough, the same contract was reduced to $1 million and presented for payments."

alarmed

Montague continued: "While the taxpayers are grateful for this $7-million discount, we are alarmed at the way this was handled. Please, therefore, cause an investigation into this matter with assistance from the Contractor General's office. A report within seven days is also expected."

The NSWMA has, for the past several years, been a hotbed of controversy, constantly rocked by allegations of mismanagement, wanton spending and corruption.

Only last year, the board of the garbage-collection agency was forced to call in the Fraud Squad to investigate the wanton spending of approximately $20 million in less than a calendar year. This followed the previous year's revelations of overexpenditure, which led to the demise of the Alston Stewart-led board.

no new employment

Montague also sought to put his stamp of authority on the future of matters relating to the NSWMA, instructing Mr. Rowe that there would be no new employment to the agency until a new board was in place. "There seems to have been a breach of the board's decision, for a freeze on employment," Montague wrote. "Please cause an investigation to be done, and if the decision was breached and persons interviewed, please instruct that no offer letters be sent until a new board is in place."