OCG alarmed at claims politicians directed JDIP contract awards

The Office of Contractor General OCG says it is alarmed by assertions that sub-contracts for the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme were awarded based on recommendations from politicians.

In an exclusive Sunday Gleaner interview, former Chief Executive Officer at the National Works Agency, Patrick Wong, said the selection of subcontractors, was based on an unwritten protocol established by former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.

In a statement to the media this morning, the Contractor General Greg Christie said if Wong’s claims are true, then they would depict a very worrisome state of affairs for the country’s Public Contracting System.

He says Wong’s allegation would also confirm that there is a systemic, widespread and potentially corrupt interference, by politicians, in the disbursement of scarce public financial resources to contractors who they know.

Christie further says any such unwritten protocol would significantly undermine the good governance principles of impartiality, fairness, transparency, competition and value for money in the award of State contracts.

He wants the Government to say if the alleged unwritten protocol in fact exist.

The contractor General says if it exists, it should be abandoned and an explanation given.

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