Portia’s speech after asking current NHT board to resign.

This is what I expect her to say, if she wants to salvage what is left of her political career and will end the Outameni debacle once and for all.

I received information two weeks ago from the board of the NHT as it relates to the circumstances surrounding what has now become the controversial purchase of the Outameni property in Trelawny. The board has offered an explanation, but on further investigation including a review of  the valuations, the purchase agreement. the development plans, statements and interviews attributed to the Chairman of the NHT , I have come to the conclusion that the response provided to me does not appear to be in sync with the my own independent investigations.

There are clear contradictions in the statements provided to me by the chairman and the board and statements made by the Chairman in interviews given to the media, NHT internal memos, board meetings etc.

It would appear based on investigations conducted by the OPM, that the board not only failed to keep me informed about this purchase, which was made back in 2012, but they further compounded the issue by providing to me, what now appears to be misleading information, which I consider and affront me, the cabinet, to the people of Jamaica and the hard working contributors to the NHT.

I met earlier today with the members of the NHT board  led by Easton Douglas and thanked them for their contributions to the NHT over the past two years, but indicated to them, that they have lost my confidence at this stage, given the sequence of events and have asked that they tender their resignations with immediate effect.

I have also invited the office of the Contractor General and  the Accountant General to conduct an independent investigation into the deal to purchase the attraction and will await the outcome of those investigations.

I will not seek to impute the reputation of any member of the board, all of whom are hard working people and ask Jamaicans to wait the outcome of the investigation and not seek to cast aspirations on these board members

On the behalf of the cabinet  I would like to sincerely apologize to all contributors to the fund and all Jamaicans for what occurred here and for the sake of transparency, will allow the investigations to be completed before commenting any further .

In a few days, I will be announcing a new board, which I hope will move to carry on the good work of the NHT.

I want to thank you all.