They call him god

[Tuff Gong]

They call him god

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Dear Editor:

It appears that the prime minister has all but ceded the running of the country to his trusted friend and head of the kitchen cabinet. I don't blame him, since the members of the official cabinet have allowed themselves to be treated like stooges, forever playing second fiddle to the man they call 'god'.

How else can one explain the fact that after the minister of finance announced an enquiry into the 'Scandals Whitehouse' project, the prime ministers took it over without any reference to the Minister and declared it 'squeaky clean'? This is despite the fact that Dr Lawrence's private company, JENTECH, was assigned one of the major contracts on the project without competitive bidding. At the very least that issue should have been explored so that the public could be assured that this was an arms-length deal and that there could be no aspersions cast at Dr Lawrence, which is not being done here.

Bear in mind that the UDC, which is headed by none other than Dr Lawrence, spearheaded the project. After a defence that is reserved for 'gods' only, the Prime Minister then asked taxpayers to hug up the losses on the grounds that the overrun was a mere US$37 million.

In the recent budget debate, Dr Omar Davies clearly stated what the actual Air Jamaica losses were over the last ten years. Yet one of the weekend papers quoted Dr Lawrence as repeating the very rumour that the Minister Davies had put to rest. The Prime Minister says nothing.

It is more than rumour that Mr Kingsley Thomas, who has been one of Jamaica's most visionary public servants, had to make a hasty retreat, as the steam from the 'god' in the kitchen cabinet got too much for him to bear.

At last count, Dr Lawrence was either chairman or a senior executive of 23 public and private entities. Is it a case that he is the new 'Superman' or is he really 'god'?

Wouldn't you agree, Mr Editor, that since there has been no public explanation why the Cabinet, other senior public servants and taxpayers appear to have all been rendered subordinates of the man they call 'god', it is reasonable to wonder why!

I am etc

Jean Braham
Stony Hill
St Andrew

They call him god

[Blackstar*]

Re: They call him god

Topical

[Tuff Gong]

Re: They call him god


God tek a likkle air out:

Vin Lawrence quits his PNP job
PNP not sure Lawrence will remain NEC member
Patrick Foster, Observer writer
Friday, August 04, 2006

DR Vin Lawrence's dramatic plunge from grace echoed this week within the ruling People's National Party (PNP) with his shock announcement of his resignation as party treasurer.

PNP general-secretary Colin Campbell confirmed last evening that Lawrence had stepped down with immediate effect as the party's bookkeeper and biggest fundraiser, after a meeting with party president and prime minister Portia Simpson Miller and PNP chairman Bobby Pickersgill on Monday.

Campbell did not know what was the reason given by Lawrence in his resignation letter but said he had previously indicated that he planned to go, and had now brought the date forward.

Lawrence could not be reached by the Observer for comment and Pickersgill was said to be off the island.
Campbell, the information and development minister, also could not verify whether Lawrence would remain as a member of the PNP's National Executive Council (NEC), the party's highest decision-making body outside of annual conference.

"He is a member of the NEC by virtue of being the treasurer of the party. I will have to check that," Campbell said in response to Observer queries.

Lawrence, reputed to be the most powerful non-elected public official across several PNP administrations, similarly tendered his resignation last week Monday as chairman of the influential Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and all other state boards which he headed, becoming the first major casualty of the controversial Sandals Whitehouse Hotel project.

The UDC was the major partner in the south coast hotel construction which is at the centre of a US$41-million cost overrun scandal that erupted following complaints from another partner, Gordon 'Butch' Stewart's Gorstew, that the developers failed to deliver the property completed and fully functioning when the hotel opened in February last year.

Sandals, which manages the hotel, said it was forced to cut rates and refund hundreds of guests. The company also said the issue damaged its high-riding international Sandals reputation and has sued to recover its losses.

The third partner in the Whitehouse project is the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) whose key directors have virtually gone into hiding from news reporters and talk show producers seeking to get comments about what they knew about the massive cost overrun.

Lawrence's fall, after years of being seen as the power behind the PNP throne and key figure in the inner cabinets, began last week after the contractor-general accused the UDC of deliberately concealing information from his investigators and concluding that the award of contracts on the hotel project lacked transparency and competition.

Stewart, who said he shared the contractor-general's concern about a lack of transparency, also complained that his company was kept in the dark about the cost overrun, despite strenuous efforts to get information from the project manager, the UDC.

Lawrence held the post of PNP treasurer for three years. In his various capacities, he has undertaken negotiations on behalf of the Jamaican government in several areas of economic activities such as bauxite and alumina, energy and tourism.

He negotiated the privatisation of several of Jamaica's major companies, and on his spiritual side, served as the rector's warden at the St Andrew Parish Church and a member of the church committee.

A 1967 graduate of the University of the West Indies in Engineering, Lawrence was honoured in 1998 by his alma mater as one of its distinguished graduates and was awarded the nation's fourth highest honour, the Order of Jamaica, in that same year by the government.

Vin Lawrence quits his PNP job

[Tuff Gong]

Re: They call him god

Lawrence bought apartment from UDC affiliate Co
published: Sunday | September 10, 2006

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has confirmed that a two-bedroom apartment at Seawind in Montego Bay, St. James, was sold to former chairman of the Urban Development Company (UDC), Dr. Vin Lawrence at a cost of $4.5 million.

The Prime Minister made the disclosure on Tuesday in the House of Representatives while responding to questions posed by Leader of the Opposition Bruce Golding at a previous sitting.

According to the Prime Minister, in March 2001, the managing director of Montego Freeport Limited, an affiliate company of the UDC with responsibility for the Seawind property, indicated to the board of the UDC that a two-bedroom apartment had remained unsold. Mr. Lawrence, who at the time was the chairman of the UDC board, then requested that the unit be sold to him because no one had expressed interest in acquiring the apartment.

Market value

"The board agreed that since the apartments had been on the market for such a long time with no takers, it could be sold to the chairman at market value. Based on the reassessed value of the apartment at the time of the sale, it was sold to the chairman at market value," reported the Prime Minister.

Asked further by Mr. Golding whether the minister with responsibility at the time, was aware that the UDC board had approved the sale of the unit to Mr. Lawrence, the Prime Minister responded:

"I am not in a position to say. I was trying to get some information but the minister that is responsible is off the island, but I will be able to communicate to you as soon as I get that information."

In 1993, Montego Freeport Limited took a decision to dispose of the 54 units that were owned by the company, because of the poor condition of the apartments and the low occupancy that were being experience at the time.

The Prime Minister disclosed that to date, of the 54 units, only four remained unsold because no interest had been shown by anyone to acquire them. She also noted that all apartments, except for three, were sold at the valuation price. The others were sold for more than the amount for which they had been valued.

- Dionne Rose

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060910/lead/lead6.html