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Standing Finance Committee rejects Golding motion
published: Thursday | April 20, 2006
A MOTION moved by Opposition Leader Bruce Golding to have a community project transferred from the Estimates of Expenditure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade to the Office of the Prime Minister, was rejected by Parliament's Standing Finance Committee yesterday.
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Senator Anthony Hylton, told the committee that former Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, K.D. Knight, had negotiated the project with the Chinese Government.
COMPLEX IN SLIGOVILLE
The sports complex is being built in Sligoville, St. Catherine, in Mr. Knight's constituency, at a cost of $248 million.
But Mr. Golding wanted to know why this project was under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and suggested that it be put under the Office of the Prime Minister, which has responsibility for sports.
"... If you could tell us, what business does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have with sports facilities? All multinational lateral corporations come through the Ministry of Finance but they do not end up in their head of estimates," he pointed out.
"Or does it have something to do with the constituency that was represented by that particular minister? But if that is so, that is a corruption of the budget process," Golding stated.
Standing Finance Committee rejects Golding motion
Opposition raps gov't for taking free space for embassy in China
LLOYD WILLIAMS, Observer writer
Thursday, April 20, 2006
THE Jamaican government's acceptance of the use of a building in Beijing for free, for three years, to house its embassy in China, came in for criticism from the Opposition during yesterday's sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, which was examining the estimates for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.
Bruce Golding, the opposition leader, said Jamaica's foreign representatives should not occupy premises being provided by a host country. "If we can't afford to establish a mission, we wait until we can," Golding said.
"When we go to a country we go with our pride," Golding added. He said it was unacceptable for the costs of Jamaica's representatives abroad to be met by another country.
Meanwhile, Audley Shaw, the Opposition spokesman for finance, said the arrangement for the use of a building in Beijing for free was a breach of diplomatic protocol and the minister should take that on advisement.
At the same time, Karl Samuda, Opposition MP for St Andrew North Central, said that to accept the Chinese offer, as well as a similar one from the South African government meant Jamaica had no shame as a sovereign nation and it was a national disgrace.
Senator Anthony Hylton, the new minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, however, insisted that nothing was unusual about the arrangement, and that it did not undermine the ministry's integrity.
The South African government, he added, was offering similar incentives to Jamaica in terms of the chancery and the residence.
Hylton, in response to questions from Samuda, said $33,000 was budgeted for the embassy in China and that under the arrangement the Port Authority of Jamaica, which was doing business with China, was paying the staff.
But Golding described the arrangement with the Port Authority as "cross-fertilisation", and raised questions about the payment of pension and NIS contributions of the embassy staff.
Hylton assured him that those liabilities would be taken care of by his ministry.
The minister said the start-up cost of the embassy in China was $628,000, while that for the Jamaican embassy in South Africa was $22.5 million. The embassy in Pretoria, South Africa is scheduled to be opened in July.
Opposition raps gov't for taking free space for embassy in China
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