{"id":20043,"date":"2022-01-06T21:03:54","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T02:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=20043"},"modified":"2022-01-05T09:21:31","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T14:21:31","slug":"heart-ache-pm-golding-wrestle-over-conflict-of-interest-amid-calls-to-pull-gabbidon-as-board-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/heart-ache-pm-golding-wrestle-over-conflict-of-interest-amid-calls-to-pull-gabbidon-as-board-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"HEART-ACHE PM, Golding wrestle over conflict of interest amid calls to pull Gabbidon as board chair"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jamaica<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Andrew Holness has expressed confidence in Edward Gabbidon as chairman of the HEART\/NSTA Trust despite a litany of controversies plaguing the institution in recent times, including allegations of conflict of interest facing the board head.<\/p>\n<p>But Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding on Tuesday cautioned the prime minister, who had earlier warned against persons \u201cweaponising\u201d conflicts of interest and connected parties in the public sector.<\/p>\n<p>According to Holness, the HEART\/NSTA Trust chairman\u2019s company had been doing business with the agency long before he was appointed chairman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to be careful how we seek to vilify persons who enter public life to give service,\u201d Holness declared during a question-and-answer session in Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>St Andrew South East Member of Parliament Julian Robinson had asked the prime minister questions regarding the spending of $5.6 million by the board of HEART\/NSTA Trust to hold a retreat at the Moon Palace Jamaica Resort in Ocho Rios, St Ann, between October 7 and 10 this year.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to concerns from opposition lawmakers, Holness said, \u201cNot every conflict of interest suggests corruption. In a small country like Jamaica, it is almost going to be inescapable, and that is why you have these standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The prime minister made it clear that disclosure must be made to boards and that there has to be transparency in processes.<\/p>\n<p>According to Holness, when the issue arose, \u201cWhat I had to check in terms of the chairman I appointed \u2026 that if there were any involvements, any conflicts or connected party issues that they would have been declared to the prescribed authority, in this case the board.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Golding indicated that the prime minister\u2019s remarks about weaponising conflicts of interest were misplaced, arguing that the discussion should rather be about \u201cexcising it and bringing it to an end because it has become an epidemic\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPM, HEART is a strategic agency. That chairman has had issues raised. If I were you, I would remove him and install a new board,\u201d Golding told Holness.<\/p>\n<p>Manchester North West Member of Parliament Mikael Phillips, who also chairs the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), said the oversight body received correspondence from the legal department of HEART\/NSTA Trust stating that it had not \u201cbeen furnished with a copy of a declaration of interest or have sight of same\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Phillips said that the prime minister should have appointed Gabbidon to another board and not HEART.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy appoint him as chairman of the same board of the entity (of which) he is a major supplier?\u201d asked Phillips.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on the issue, Robinson said that he found the $5.6-million retreat expenditure excessive at a time when Jamaicans have had to \u201cband dem belly\u201d owing to the impact of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>He said that HEART\/NSTA Trust\u2019s contributions had declined because employers would have cut back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe everybody has to share and show regard for the challenges that the country is going through,\u201d said the St Andrew South East MP.<\/p>\n<p>Robinson pointed out that HEART had options, noting that the agency owns the Runaway Bay HEART Academy where it trains tourism workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo if you decided you want to have an off-site retreat, you could have gone there. I have been there. I sat on the HEART board. It\u2019s a great facility. It could have been used if you wanted to go to the north coast. You could have gone to a hotel in the Corporate Area. I find it excessive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robinson said the spending was symptomatic of a broader problem that had been affecting the training agency.<\/p>\n<p>Listing the concerns, Robinson said: \u201cYou have a chairman who is in a conflict of interest about contracts awarded to his company. You have senior management that awarded themselves salary increases of 20, 30, 40 per cent and then had to get it retroactively approved by the Ministry of Finance, when Nigel (Clarke) is going to only give us four per cent for the public sector.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also said that students had completed their studies at the institution and could not get their certificates.<\/p>\n<p>Robinson said further that HEART was not satisfying the interest of its external stakeholders but was inwardly focused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am saying to you, Prime Minister, as the minister responsible, this institution was started by your mentor, Edward Phillip George. You have to take hold of it. The retreat is just one example, but there are many other issues and it is not fulfilling its mandate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>A breakdown of the sums spent for the retreat saw accommodation, meals and technology support costing $4.1 million. A facilitator was paid $800,000 and a strategic coach received a little more than $664,000. The prime minister said that the costs were in keeping with standard market rates.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jamaica-gleaner.com\/article\/lead-stories\/20211215\/heart-ache\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">More\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Image: Pixabay-Audit\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness has expressed confidence in Edward Gabbidon as chairman of the HEART\/NSTA Trust despite a litany of controversies plaguing the institution in recent times, including allegations&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":19888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[250],"tags":[154,124,153],"class_list":["post-20043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-conflictchallenge","tag-jamaica","tag-legal"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/audit-g8faaf0f23_1280-e1644524531624.jpg?fit=1025%2C678&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-5dh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20284,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/why-heart-nsta-trust-chairman-edward-gabbidon-resigned\/","url_meta":{"origin":20043,"position":0},"title":"Why HEART\/NSTA Trust Chairman Edward Gabbidon resigned","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"January 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jamaica \u00a0 EART\/NSTA Trust Board Chairman Edward Gabbidon has resigned in what he has noted is a move not to allow individuals, for political gain, to\u00a0use him as a distraction from the valuable work of the Trust. Gabbidon resigned on Friday last week in a letter he sent to Prime\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-thirdman-5060979-scaled-e1646951879770.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-thirdman-5060979-scaled-e1646951879770.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-thirdman-5060979-scaled-e1646951879770.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-thirdman-5060979-scaled-e1646951879770.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20286,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/opposition-raps-pm-on-heart-nsta\/","url_meta":{"origin":20043,"position":1},"title":"Opposition raps PM on HEART\/NSTA","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"January 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jamaica \u00a0 THE Opposition says Prime Minister Andrew Holness made a bad decision in appointing Edward Gabbidon to chair the board of the Human Employment and Resource Training \/National Service Training Agency (HEART\/NSTA) Trust, and made it worse by expressing confidence in the now-resigned chairman in Parliament last week. News\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-ono-kosuki-5647615-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-ono-kosuki-5647615-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-ono-kosuki-5647615-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-ono-kosuki-5647615-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-ono-kosuki-5647615-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20281,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/hearts-gabbidon-bows-out-over-conflict-of-interest-pressure\/","url_meta":{"origin":20043,"position":2},"title":"HEART&#8217;s Gabbidon bows out over conflict-of-interest pressure","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"January 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jamaica \u00a0 Edward Gabbidon has resigned as board chairman of the HEART\/NSTA Trust amid concerns about his position and the relationship his company, SynCon Technologies, has with the troubled skills training agency. It comes months into a\u00a0Sunday Gleaner\u00a0investigation that brought the issue to light and just days after HEART's portfolio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668481-scaled-e1654222643649.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668481-scaled-e1654222643649.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668481-scaled-e1654222643649.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668481-scaled-e1654222643649.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20288,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/editorial-beyond-edward-gabbidon\/","url_meta":{"origin":20043,"position":3},"title":"Editorial | Beyond Edward Gabbidon","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"January 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jamaica \u00a0 It is not clear if Edward Gabbidon jumped or was pushed. Only a week ago, Prime Minister Andrew Holness was insisting that he had full confidence in Mr Gabbidon\u2019s chairmanship of the Government\u2019s cash-rich vocational training agency, HEART\/NSTA Trust. Mr Gabbidon\u2019s resignation this week underlined not only a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841812-scaled-e1648207457324.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841812-scaled-e1648207457324.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841812-scaled-e1648207457324.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841812-scaled-e1648207457324.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26456,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/corruption-prosecutor-to-probe-holness-conflict-of-interest-allegation\/","url_meta":{"origin":20043,"position":4},"title":"Corruption prosecutor to probe Holness conflict of interest allegation","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"February 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Jamaica The report said that Garvin is \u201cpersonally\u201d known to Holness and had been employed both in his St Andrew West Central constituency and his personal business. \u00a0- File photo The Integrity Commission has referred a report implicating Prime Minister Andrew Holness in an alleged conflict of interest to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/transparency-and-accountability-Free-Press-Free-Press-Action-Fund-flickr.jpg?fit=781%2C250&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/transparency-and-accountability-Free-Press-Free-Press-Action-Fund-flickr.jpg?fit=781%2C250&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/transparency-and-accountability-Free-Press-Free-Press-Action-Fund-flickr.jpg?fit=781%2C250&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/transparency-and-accountability-Free-Press-Free-Press-Action-Fund-flickr.jpg?fit=781%2C250&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26659,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/pm-holness-at-centre-of-possible-conflict-of-interest-probe\/","url_meta":{"origin":20043,"position":5},"title":"PM Holness at centre of possible conflict of interest probe","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"March 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness has been cited for a possible conflict of interest in the awarding of Government contracts totalling millions of dollars to an entity - Westcon Construction Limited - and has been referred to the Director of Corruption Prosecution at the Integrity Commission for possible further action.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Contract-agreement-signature-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20043"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20048,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20043\/revisions\/20048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}