This newspaper, as the health minister Mr Ruddy Spencer declared about himself, does not countenance corruption and firmly believes that public officials ought to follow the rules.

But merely stating that someone is corrupt does not necessarily make it so; it's not the kind of accusation that ought to be made lightly. Which is why we ask Mr Spencer for further and better particulars of the decision of the board of the National Health Fund (NHF) to fire its CEO, Mr Rae Barrett, apparently at the minister's instigation.

Or, to put it baldly, Mr Spencer's statements on the issue, so far, have lacked clarity. Moreover, the explanations offered by Mr Barrett are, on the face of it, reasonable.

There appears to be, officially, two main reasons why Mr Spencer and the NHF board wanted Mr Barrett, a hold-over appointment from the former administration, to go. Both, it seems, have to do with perceived conflict of interest.

One has to do with the provision of personal security to Mr Barrett and the NHF offices by a company, which is chaired by Mr Barrett. But that, based on Mr Barrett's explanation, which has not been publicly challenged, is not as simple or straightforward as has been implied.

Apart from his former job at the NHF, Mr Barrett is, or used to be, deputy chairman of the Jamaican Urban Transit Company (JUTC), whose chairman, Douglas Chambers, was assassinated at mid-year. It was apparently agreed that other board members, including Mr Barrett, should receive protection.

Bill reimbursed

In Mr Barrett's case, the NHF paid the bill but was reimbursed by the JUTC. Mr Barrett claimed that the decision on which company to engage was left to the JUTC's security officer, without any input from him. Mr Barrett said he subsequently asked for an end to the security arrangement.

It hardly seems unreasonable that security should have been provided to Mr Barrett, especially in the context of the murder of Mr Chambers and the atmosphere that followed his assassination. Neither does it seem strange, if that was indeed the case, that the NHF made the upfront payments and was reimbursed. It should be recalled that these were two government agencies.

The other apparent matter of major concern was a decision by the NHF to award a contract for the management of its pension fund to Capital and Credit Merchant Bank, the company whose chairman is Mr Ryland Campbell, who recently resigned as chairman of the NHF. Mr Spencer raised procedural issues and implied conflict of interest.

Yet, Mr Barrett has said that when Capital and Credit's proposal came to the board from the NHF's management, Mr Campbell directed that it be taken first to the board's procurement committee for review, which subsequently approved the bid.

Mr Campbell has developed an, up to now, highly deserved reputation in Jamaica for integrity, so we would be surprised that he would preside, for his own or anyone's benefit, over what Mr Spencer referred to as "that level of corruption" which, as minister he could not countenance. As we said, reputations can't be purchased off the shelf. They ought not be destroyed cheaply.

So, provide the beef, Mr Spencer.

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