FINALLY.…. The People’s National Party has moved against Former Lucea Mayor Shernet Haughton. In an unprecedented move the Party’s National Executive Council (NEC) took the decision to bar Haughton from representing the party at the next local government elections.
This comes after a Contractor General report which unearthed information that as Mayor Haughton took the art of Nepotism to unconscionable levels when she awarded more than $3.7 million worth of contracts to family members and close friends during her two years as mayor.
In essence the public purse became the private cookie-jar for Haughton. Contractor General Dirk Harrison submitted his findings to the Director of Public Prosecution whose office decide that despite overwhelming evidence of Nepotism there was no statute allowing her to be charged for Nepotism.
As I said yesterday there needs to be serious overall of our Justice system in every quarter, including the Office of DPP.
It appears the only public body in Jamaica serious about accountability and consequences is the office of Contractor General. It is important to note that while other public bodies like INDECOM have powers of arrest and are rapaciously demanding more power with little to show for it, the office of Contractor General has no power of arrest. This is where serious teeth is needed most, arresting the creeps and clowns at the top.
The stewardship of public funds is critically important. For decades Jamaica has suffered at the hands of political leaders who suffer from Kleptomania.
The office of Contractor general was created to give the public a faux sense of security that the practice of political thievery through the contracts awards process was being addressed.
Despite the Act. There was marginal powers given the office. In essence the Act allows the Contractor General to make a lot of noise and not much more.
With a neutered and incompetent Police Force beholden to the political directorate and scared shit-less of INDECOM, the inability of the Contractor General to bring charges against the likes of Haughton effectively places Politicians out of the ambit and reach of the law.
Jamaicans still unborn are indebted to foreign institutions. The country spends almost one and a half times of GDP a large chunk of that pie goes to servicing interests on foreign debts. Presently the country and the administration is focused simply on reaching targets set by the International Monetary Fund. As Greece faces default and is willing to go to a referendum to decide the way forward Jamaica continues to pussy-foot around with public funds much of which is borrowed money, despite being in a far more serious predicament than Greece by some estimates.
How could one little woman in a clown suit have access and authority to spend public money without oversight and accountability? How many Billions of Dollars have been siphoned away with nothing tangible to show for it.
You decide…
The PNP decided to let Haughton go yet hasten to say she remains a Councillor for the Green Island Division of the Hanover Parish Council , despite the recommendations of the Contractor General’s that she resign.
Where is the outrage from the people living in the Green Island Division. Are they so tainted by political tribalism that they would prefer to have an unethical person represent them in the Council, than demand she go?
Have the people considered that the quality of their lives are directly related to their silence and acquiescence to these unscrupulous if not criminal actions?