The Prime Minister of Jamaica was once again embarrassed by her own incompetence and lack of awareness as well as the incompetence of the Easton Douglas led NHT board.
The Prime Minister who has DIRECT responsibility for the NHT said in the house of parliament and I have no reason to disbelieve her, that she ONLY became aware of the purchase of Outameni, sometime in October, which is just about the time, the media broke the news.
Now the media reported that the deal to purchase the property was made in December 2012 and paid for in March 2013 and our Prime Minister, the person who has DIRECT oversight of the NHT only FOUND out about the deal two weeks ago, how about that for being aware and managing your area !
I could not believe the crap that the Prime Minister presented in the house yesterday, which was not only an embarrassment to her and every member on her side, but also to the entire population of Jamaica. It was painful to listen to what was being given as answers to legitimate questions on the NHT deal and at the end of the answers provided, we were left with even more questions.
The answers were so poor that even my 11 year old said Daddy ” If they paid $190m for 10 acres of land, that means the land was valued at $19m per acre, but Dad that sounds like a lots of money for that amount of land.”
I said to my 11 year old ” Only in Jamaica, only in Jamaica”.
The Prime Minister of Jamaica must be willing to calling a spade and spade and must refuse to be made to look like an idiot by the people who report to her. It is clear even to Ray Charles that the Prime Minister was misled by the board of the NHT and it would save what is left of her career, to call for the resignation of the entire board by the end of the day today.
She should then issue a public apology to the NHT contributors and tell that that contrary to what she had reported, she has now found out that the information was erroneous and was designed to mislead her, the cabinet and the Parliament and she will not allow this to happen, hence her decision to ask the entire board to resign.
The Prime Minister can still salvage some pride from this affair and show great leadership by sacking the entire board and also remove her senator that sits on the board of the NHT for misleading her and the country.
If I were the PM I would NEVER had read the CRAP, instead I would have said the following to Parliament.
” I received information earlier this week 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.
Now my readers, had I been the Prime Minister that would have been by position and not the CRAP I heard .
Had the PM done the above, the entire Jamaica would have been silenced and Out-a-money would have been history . By the time the investigations would have been completed no one would have remember what Out-a- Money was.
The PM missed a grand opportunity to show true leadership and instead choose mediocrity, which is really sad.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: investment, politics |
Warren's Blog 
If the PM doesn’t fire the NHT board then she should be booted out come the next general election.
Jay, do you really think the pm was not aware of the “deal”? Portia is just like the rest of them! One of her “advisers” is part of a MOCA investigation and interestingly was not mentioned in the “Seven” that the “presstitutes printed. The emergence of Alston Stewart and Vin Lawrence after their “GLORIUS” run over the last 20yrs. Bawlin out how honest you are is not necessarily the reality?
Is anything the PM said incorrect?. why do you think the board has mislead the PM ?. maybe the PM stated the correct facts and the media had mislead the country in the first place !!!
What do you think cullcull. Which story do you believe?
Because what she said is not in sync with what Easton Douglas has said on the subject. No matter what happens in this country you can always find someone to defend the indefensible.
Which obtains. What a person says in public, on a memo, or what is on the sales agreement that dictates what is sold and the specific terms. By the way, Bruce Golding and Daryl Vaz were both on Nationwide radio AGREEING with the PM version as the facts. !!!
Cull please read what you have written because I don’t think even you believe what you wrote.
Daryl also said the board misled the PM, given what information they fed to the public. They know the PM has no clue what is going on so they are being nice to her not wanting to call he names.
You may also want to read some more as it appears that the board thought the bought the entire thing lock stock and barrel , only to find out later than was not the case and they need another $20m to make the sale complete.
Oh what buffoons we have leading this country.
Daryl said the Board was incompetent and should be fired !!!. That is separate from saying the board gave the PM incorrect info !!!. The board gave the PM correct info. The board gave the media incorrect info. Easton Douglas said to the MEDIA that it was bought lock stock and Barrel.
The Media was misled !!!! .. not the PM. The PM stated the facts.
Jay, who do you believe was mislead, the media or the PM ?
The Prime was clearly misled or should I say misdirected. Once the board recognized the clear error they tried to correct it by giving the impression they bought land.
Worse the PM has direct responsibility and has not idea what is even going on. This PM is also incompetent and has failed to manage her area properly.
Its a pity she cannot be fired !
The board should be fired, we all agree on that. The fact is, the board bought land. they did not buy the intellectual property. That is just a fact. The board misled the media. The PM spoke the facts.
I always said the PM is not operational, so that when those who are operational drops the ball, then they must face the consequences. The PM should fire the board. But the facts remains that what the PM said in parliament was accurate and who was misled was the media !!!
The board thought the bought the entire thing and only found out they had only received land. Idiots. The pm does not get a free pass this is not operations this is special projects that the pm ought to have been aware of
I might have missed this somewhere, but who are the individuals behind the this Company, Outameni? Are they known PNP or JLP supporters? Why did the NHT went out on a limb for these guys?
Lenny Little White. people from both Political party was in support of saving Outameni. Apparently heritage tourism not taking off
What is funny is well we may have done wrong but guess what the JLP was in support.
Every time the PNP screw up the look to lay blame elsewhere and their supporters tend to do the same thing.
Now , I wonder if the JLP left anything good in place that the PNP continued, can we have a list of those.
That you will not get, since the PNP must take credit for it.
Oh Gosh bowy, these fellas take us for real idiots nah !
The PM delegates. if the person you delegate to drop the ball, you fire them. This will also send a signal to others whom you delegate to not to drop the ball. If too many balls are dropped then we fire the PM ( Elections or vote of no confidence)
You delegate and followup. You ask for reports and review these. The pm heard about a major investment in the media two years later. That is not delegation that is dereliction of duty.
@ Cullcull mi sorry fi you bowy
Did you read this, if not read it and tell me what you think.
http://securejam.mediaspanonline.com/News/NHT-says-Outameni-is-part-of-Orange-Grove-property—but
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Housing Trust (NHT) seems to have been misled into believing that the $180 million it spent on acquiring the nine-acre Orange Grove, Trelawny property in 2013, covered props and intellectual rights relating to the cultural presentation known as the Outameni Experience.
I have already said the board should be fired. my contention was that the PM was speaking the facts in Parliament. The board was the one who was misleading the media. The board dropped the ball with this purchase. The PM should act quickly and fire them, she delegated responsibility to them and they dropped the ball.
Cull,
The “facts” were wrong, can’t you see that ??
If I am given information which are said to be facts and they are wrong, it means I was mislead.
That in turn means I was NOT given the FACTS, but a story to run with, with some information to “support” the so called FACTS
The facts as presented by the PM to parliament was not wrong. She said they bought land and not the intellectual property. Which fact was wrong that the PM said ?
OK cullcull. By virtue of a stupid .