Mr Mark Golding to you care to comments sir?

Hmm.

The Jamaican people should stand firmly behind the Prime Minister given the crude and uncouth behaviour of those at the helm of the WICB!

The entire board has brought West Indies cricket from the pinnacle of the sports to the gutters and seem set to take it even lower, if given the chance. The board needs to be given the boot and a new one elected as they have done absolutely nothing to move the West Indies cricket team foward, they have instead  been an abject failure in every sense of the word.

They are a disgrace when compared to the performance of the rest of the cricketing nations, its no wonder WI cricket cannot get any better.

It has been uncovered that one of the principals at the firm being looked at, to begin providing security appears to be a former PNP candidate or possible relative of a former PNP candidate and has sought a response from the NSWMA.  The deadline for answers to the OCG questions ends today, however at the time of the post, there was no indication that any such response has been furnished.

The corruption is government seems set to continue, given what we are seeing in this case.

All this suggest that the country was on the path to recovery when there was a change in administration, despite the many pronouncement to the contrary.

If Phillip Paulwell is successful and get electricity cost down to US$0.18 – $0.20,  Jamaica could be at a turning point in its 50 yr history.

The Prime Minister made an election promise of using the Jamaica Emergency Employment Program (JEEP) to provide temporary relief to the thousands who lost their jobs under the former administration. The JEEP has been criticized in many quarters as a throw back to the 1970′s and will not work. It has been called CRASH program, Bullo wuk and is said to be simple redistribution of money amongst members of the public.

Whether we like it or not JEEP seems set to drive, as we understand that the administration led by the Right Honourable Portia Simpson -Miller has already made contact with the Chinese representative in Jamaica with a view of making some changes to the contract. We further understand that a delegation may be headed to China soon for a meeting to solidify these discussions.

Reading from the PNP manifesto JEEP will get be funded from the JDIP funds, which were originally earmarked for infrastructural development programs.

They have indicated that the funds will be used to provide employment of persons to clean gullies, side of roads verges etc, no development work which you can look back 5 yrs from now and say, that came out of the JEEP.

The government no doubt is concerned about the high unemployment rate and this is their method to alleviate the suffering of Jamaican at this point in time.

How will the Jeep really work? I have a number of questions that I would like to ask the driver of the JEEP, Dr Omar Davis

1. Under which agency will JEEP fall ?
2. How will it be administered i.e. will be island wide with various administrator in various parishes?
3. Will it fall under the purview of the various MP’s in the various constituency and if so how, will it be in a manner similar to the CDF?
4. How will the various projects to fall under the program  be determined?
5. What are the priority projects to be addressed and how do we determine priory i.e. what factors determine if a project make the list or not?
6. How are the contracts to be handled? Will we have one big contractor or contractors with responsibility for the overall execution of the various project and then sub contracts are issued to the various sub contractors, then to the regular work men and women.
7. Will these contracts be put to tender?
8. Will these contracts come under the NCC?
9. If no to 6, how do we determine who is eligible to get employment contracts under JEEP?
10. Will it be first come, first serve system?
11. If based on needs, are we going to conduct a needs analysis to determine who really are in bad shape financially and should get work.
12. If we are going to proceed with a need analysis, who will administrate this process?
13. Would it be one, two, or three persons required  to complete this process in each of the 63 constituency?
14. To whom will these persons report?
15. How do we ensure transparency and objectivity in the needs analysis process?
16. The needs are varying and plenty, so having done the needs analysis, what process will be used to ensure the list is made up of the most needy and ensure all gets a piece of the pie.
17. If we have multiple projects in one constituency,division, area, what process will be put in place to ensure equity and no one person “ hog the show”?
18. How will the work to be done be valued i.e. how do we determine fair price for the job to be done?
19. What performance criteria will be put in place to determine if the job is done properly?
20. What body or  entity will evaluate the work to determine if it’s done to original design specifications?
21. Will this be an existing government body or entity, if not how much will be set aside to pay an external group to complete this process?
22. . How will payment be made i.e. what documents will be used to determine payment. If multi contractors are used then I would expect invoice to be  submitted, theses would be review and then payments made. The money would then be used to pay smaller subcontractors and then the regular employee.
23. If no large contract then the question still remains, i.e. how will payments be made?
24. Will JEEP have its own accounting setup for payment of invoice etc or will we use the system in the body that has oversight for the JEEP. Eg if JEEP falls under NWA then I would assume that JEEP would use whatever accounting system the NWA uses to pay it contracts

As you can see from the many questions that I have asked, if we want to ensure accountability, transparency and not a whiff of corruption in this program, certain systems and checks and balances must be in place.

In addition, the entire program could require the following  set of individual, who all have to be paid.

a)     Individuals to determine the various projects.

b)     Individuals to determine estimates of work to be done.

c)      Assessors to complete needs analysis, to determine suitability of workers  for this program.

d)     Analysts to determine who gets jobs vs who does not  based on selected criteria.

e)     Possible contractors and sub contractors.

f)       Accounting unit to receive invoices and make payments.

g)     The actual workers.

When you review, what I consider the type of system and administration that is required to execute such a program, which is most likely to be island wide, I see employment opportunities for many persons. The problem with all that is, it comes at a heavy price and those would are likely to benefit the least are those that needs it the most, i.e. the actual worker on the ground.

Minister of Finance
The Hon. Peter Phillips
Kingston, Jamaica

Dear Mr. Minister,

I saw with some shock the proposed appointment of Mr. Easton Douglas as Executive Chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC). Perhaps this is just a joke being played by the media as Mr. Douglas in a previous PNP Cabinet was asked to step down under difficult circumstances.

Most Jamaicans including those in the Diaspora would have welcomed the appointment of Professor David Rowe as the Chairman and Executive Director of the UDC. Of note, Professor Rowe has had a long distinguished career in the field of Law, serving as a Senior Partner in the largest Law firm in the State of Florida before becoming a full Professor of Law at the prestigious University of Miami Law School.

Professor Rowe’s intellect,credibility and influence with the Obama administration are well known. To this end, Professor Rowe has served frequently as an advisor to the US State Department and the
US Justice Department, and is frequently recognized as an expert witness on Jamaican issues by Federal judges.

Previous Jamaican administrations have contracted freely with Christopher Coke of the Shower Posse, using the UDC as a cloak. Thus it is imperative for Jamaica to appoint public servants of a caliber such as Professor Rowe to begin the process of removing the influence of the Shower Posse from the nations economic life.

If we as a party are truly serious about turning around our economy and to be able to attract international investors, it is imperative that we begin to appoint distinguished members of the Diaspora who are
internationally respected to assist with the process of economic
recovery.

In many ways members of the Diaspora believe that Professor Rowe was a key figure who was responsible for the victory we enjoyed at the recent polls, due to his unrelenting pursuit for justice and an unwavering desire to reveal the truth behind the Manatt Phelps scandal of the Labor party.

Based on our profound desire to see our country moving forward, failure of the party to appoint Professor Rowe as the UDC Chairman will unfortunately result in the disassociation of the Orlando segment of the Jamaican Diaspora from future party events.

As always, I remain fully committed to our country’s development and to the success of the People’s National Party. My position on this matter however was taken based on a matter of principle.
Please feel free to contact me should you have any comments.

Respectfully,

Christopher Walker, MD, FACOG, FICS

cc. Senator John Kerry: Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Mr. Steve Wynn :Chairman of Wynn Resorts
Mr.Hamish Dodds: Chairman of Hard Rock Hotels
Mr. Harris Rosen : Chairman of Rosen Hotels
Hon. Dr. Wickham McNeil: Minister of Tourism
Hon. Senator Sandra Falconer: Minister of Information
Hon. Mark Golding: Minister of Justice
Hon. Peter Bunting: Minister of National Security

Thanks to the blogger who provided this letter.

Flashback !

So flashback on who is Dr Christopher Walker. This guy in no lightweight, it was his letter which brought about the downfall of Olint and lead to Christopher Coke being indicted.

See letter which ultimately lead to the fall of Coke and Bruce.

Senate_Foreign_Rel_Comm-5.20.09 (1)

Mr Mckenzie has also charged that it was because of these dismissals, why it took the government so long to bring the fire under control. He went on to add that  the fire was being attacked using the wrong methods and success was only seen, when officials made contact with former head of the NSWMA , Joan Gordon-Webley.

In addition Mr Mckenzie charged that the government went to as far as St Ann to contract heavy duty equipment to be used to fight the fire vs using equipment that was already in Kingston and on standby for that purpose. We are being told this was done to ensure that PNP linked contractors could get to “eat a food”, but this could not be true, could it?

So we effectively have a row  between the government and the opposition over GARBAGE

All this while residents are turning up at the public health facilities in droves complaining about health issues,  as a result of the pollutants that were emitted from the recent fire.

The Government has suspended an $80 million drain cleaning and sidewalk rehabilitation programme in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, which was instituted by the previous administration last August

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=35361

http://commonsenseja.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/danville-walker-the-biggest-loser-of-them-all/

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=35362

The project is hinged on the GOJ finding a reliable source of LNG, which will be the main fuel for this plant, with #3 fuel ( diesel) as a back up. For those who have no idea what a combined cycle plant it here is a bit of information.

A combined cycle plant is one of the most efficient plant that one can operate and can have an operational efficiency as high as 80%. A combined cycle burns fuel (LNG) in a combustor to produce electricity, the waste heat from the exhaust system is then used to produce steam , which is then use to drive a steam turbine, to produce even more electricity.

The burning of the fuel is not very efficient~ 24-31%, but the steam produced by the waste “heat”, which is the by-product of combustion , is used to drive a steam turbine , which produces  thermal efficiency of 50%, for  a total system efficiency 74-81%.

JPS therefore seems to be heading in the right direction, however nothing will materialize without LNG.

Phillip Paulwell certainly seemed to light a fire under JPS and Jamaicans needs to stand fully behind this minister, who seems very purposeful and is certainly taking steps in the right direction to bring JPS to book on high energy cost.