BLYTHE:...glad to have name cleared.Yvonne Chin, Staff Reporter
THE OPPOSITION Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and other interest groups are refusing to accept the Prime Minister's declaration that former Minister of Water and Housing, Dr. Karl Blythe, is free from blame in the Operation PRIDE scandal.
The JLP, along with Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ), and the local umbrella watchdog for the private construction sector, the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), have all criticised the Prime Minister for emphasising Dr. Blythe's innocence legally, whilst downplaying his mismanagement of Operation PRIDE funds and abuse of power.
"If you want to call it an exoneration on the basis of removing any doubt of personal impropriety then you can accept it as some limited exoneration. But he cannot be exonerated for ministerial misfeasance, ministerial malfeasance, ministerial mismanagement, ministerial irresponsibility and ministerial meddling -- all of which have led to multi-billions of dollars of loss to the public purse," said Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw.
The Prime Minister shocked some segments of the nation last week when he officially absolved Dr. Blythe of blame in the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC)/Operation PRIDE affair.
Dr. Blythe's exoneration was based on the findings of a new report, which the Prime Minister asked the former Solicitor-General and special consultant to the Cabinet, Dr. Ken Rattray, to do.
The Rattray Report "reviewed the Report of the Commission Of Enquiry into Operation PRIDE in order to make an assessment of the culpability of Dr. Karl Blythe, former Minister of Water and Housing." Dr. Rattray in his report noted that he also "had the benefit of access to additional documents not contained in the commission's report."
The Prime Minister had established the four-member commission, chaired by Erwin Angus, managing director of Mayberry Investments to probe the Operation PRIDE programme administered by the NHDC after allegations of corruption and mismanagement of millions of dollars at the NHDC came to light last year and sent the nation into frenzy, costing Dr. Blythe his ministerial post.
The Angus Report had indicated that several of the practices at the NHDC did not provide "adequate protection and control with respect to public expenditure" and described Dr. Blythe as an interfering Minister who pressured the NHDC into making payments to contractors involved in the Operation PRIDE development.
But last week, Mr. Patterson told Parliament that "The Rattray examination revealed that there was no incident of ministerial misconduct or any act of personal impropriety by the former Minister of Housing in the execution of his responsibilities under the constitution, or in the discharge of his statutory responsibilities as Corporation Sole." It is on that basis that the former Minister has been exonerated.
"We feel that the Prime Minister has not sufficiently made that distinction between criminal liability and responsibility and accountability in his exoneration of Dr. Blythe," said Executive Director of the JFJ, Dr. Carolyn Gomes. "We need as a society to regain our moral compass. And we hope this is not an indication that the Prime Minister is bowing to political pressure," she told The Sunday Gleaner.
Dr. Gomes also said the JFJ is concerned about, "the unhealthy precedent set by the ordering of one formal report and then accepting the findings of an informal review of that report over and above the final report."
She explained that the JFJ is bothered by the Prime Minister's action because "it leaves persons who are called to served on commissions or committees, such as those on the Angus Committee in a very unhealthy position."
Dr. Gomes said the JFJ thinks of the implications for committees such as the one that has been called to look into the operations of children's homes and places of safety.
Dr. Gomes further questioned the process by which Dr. Rattray came to his conclusions.
"We understand that Dr. Rattray has criticised the Angus Report of not interviewing Dr. Blythe but we understand that Dr. Rattray has not interviewed Dr. Blythe either," said the JFJ Executive Director.
Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw told The Sunday Gleaner that "The issue (Dr. Blythe's exoneration) is not that simple. First of all the process by which the Prime Minister has arrived at this exoneration seems to me to be flawed," he said.
Mr. Shaw said that although the Prime Minister did not give the Angus Committee the full powers of a Commission of Enquiry, by virtue of the eminence of the membership of the committee it is clear that it was a serious investigative committee. The mandate was clear," he said.
EXONERATION
The Opposition Spokesman is questioning how the Prime Minister could then exonerate Dr. Blythe on the basis of another report that "did not have terms of reference that were anywhere near to the Angus Committee". He asserts that: "Mr. Rattray went in there to find out two things - (1) Did Mr. Blythe benefit in a personal way (2) Was he guilty of any misconduct and using his legal training and background. Mr. Rattray was able to exonerate Mr. Blythe from these things," Mr. Shaw said.
According to the Opposition Spokesman on Finance, "The JLP never accused Mr. Blythe of personal impropriety or of misconduct."
Mr. Shaw explained that what the JLP accused Dr. Blythe of was "the performance of a lawful action in an illegal or improper manner. In other words - Did the Minister use the cloak of his legal position as a minister to do things which were improper or inappropriate based on the regulations that the government had? Clearly he did use his position as a Corporation Sole to abuse certain privileges."
Mr. Shaw is asking why "the Prime Minister exonerates the minister but at the same time he removes the power of Corporation Sole from the present and future ministers. Is this not an implicit admission on the part of the Prime Minister that the position was being abused by the former Minister?," he asked The Opposition Spokesman said, "A whole ministry was so badly managed that you could literally have hundreds of millions of dollars being paid out simultaneously on work sites across the country for work not done. This is what is being ignored. This is what is being brushed aside because Mr. Rattray says there was no evidence of personal impropriety."
The Opposition spokesman also asserts that even if Dr. Blythe did not award the contracts, (as he claims), as the new minister on the job, he still had a fiduciary duty to ensure that he protected the revenue of the country.
Meanwhile the local umbrella watchdog for the private construction sector, the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) is also questioning Dr. Blythe's exoneration.
"We would like to know who is responsible for all that has gone on?" asked JCC Chairman, Elizabeth Duncan.
"It is one thing to say that Dr. Blythe has been exonerated, but he is the man who was in charge and someone has to take responsibility because a lot of money has gone awry," she told The Sunday Gleaner.
She also said, "If authority and responsibility go hand in hand, if you are the captain of a ship and it hits the iceberg and persons below you get the blame, you can't just say, oops, it wasn't your fault. How can you say Dr. Blythe is blameless?" she asked.
In its response to Dr. Blythe's resignation last year the JCC had said, "We acknowledge the resignation of Dr. Karl Blythe and the Board of the NHDC as an appropriate step in accepting responsibility for the mismanagement; The JCC had also congratulated the Angus Commission for its in-depth investigation and forthrightness. The Angus report had detailed at least $1.3 billion in wasted funds.
