{"id":20281,"date":"2022-01-20T22:03:17","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T03:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=20281"},"modified":"2022-01-20T17:35:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T22:35:09","slug":"hearts-gabbidon-bows-out-over-conflict-of-interest-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/hearts-gabbidon-bows-out-over-conflict-of-interest-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"HEART’s Gabbidon bows out over conflict-of-interest pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jamaica<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It comes months into a\u00a0Sunday Gleaner<\/b>\u00a0investigation that brought the issue to light and just days after HEART\u2019s portfolio boss, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, downplayed the conflict-of-interest concerns frowned upon by the agency\u2019s own policies and several government laws and regulations.<\/p>\n

Holness said last Tuesday that he was confident in the businessman, who is also the chief executive officer of SynCon, a major tech supplier to HEART.<\/p>\n

Holness thanked Gabbidon for his service and will name a new board chairman shortly, said a statement issued Monday night from the Office of the Prime Minister. It said Gabbidon\u2019s resignation took effect on December 17.<\/p>\n

The prime minister has joined his transport and mining minister, Robert Montague, and Agriculture Minister Audley Shaw, in being forced to deal with board changes in recent months as concerns about the governance of public bodies mount.<\/p>\n

Gabbidon said, among his reasons, that he did not want to become a distraction to the work of the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn deciding to give of my time for public service, it was never to seek personal benefit, public praise or political attention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s announcement came the same day the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal, National Integrity Action, and the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association demanded that Holness rethink Gabbidon\u2019s status.<\/p>\n

The last 16 months have been an unstable period for HEART, starting with a September 2020 auditor general report that raised questions about the value for money spent on several skills training programmes.<\/p>\n

Gabbidon was first appointed in April 2017 and took charge as the entity was undergoing $300-million merger in which three institutions were absorbed.<\/p>\n

The merger has been lauded publicly, but internally, fissures run deep over the restructuring, management, procurement, human resource practices and, ultimately, questions about the quality and rate of certification \u2013 the key deliverable expected of the agency funded by a tax on employers.<\/p>\n

The entity has been without a permanent managing director since March, raising questions about succession planning.<\/p>\n

Further reporting by\u00a0The Gleaner<\/b>\u00a0revealed internal worries among the procurement staff about the recommendation for the award of a contract in 2019 to the chairman\u2019s company.<\/p>\n

In April, this newspaper reported on a chain of emails in which chair of HEART\u2019s procurement committee, Marsha Whyte-Fletcher, spoke of a \u201cclear conflict of interest\u201d in the recommendation for the award of a contract to the chairman\u2019s company and sought advice from the agency\u2019s legal officer, Desrine Pearson.<\/p>\n

Pearson said that while the observation about a potential conflict of interest was \u201cprudent and reasonable\u201d given the committee\u2019s responsibility, she could not make a determination as to whether there was actual conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

Pearson acknowledged receiving from the procurement committee a statement of affiliation form submitted by Gabbidon but not a declaration of interest the committee mentioned in its request for advice.<\/p>\n

But Gabbidon is arguing that Pearson\u2019s comments have been used to suggest that he did not make the required declarations.<\/p>\n

He said he did disclose his interests and had no involvement in the procurements in question because the contracts were valued below the level that would require board approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fully understand, respect, and indeed support the need for political debates on these matters. However, oftentimes the truth is a casualty and facts treated as incidental to promote a narrative,\u201d he said, seemingly referring to the Opposition\u2019s questioning of Holness on the issue last Tuesday in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

Regarding the 2019 contract that triggered questions among staff, Gabbidon said the procurement process was later aborted and that he recused himself from examination of the matter.<\/p>\n

Between October 2006, when it started providing services to HEART, and March this year, SynCon won 196 contracts totalling approximately $303 million, according to documents the agency supplied in October through an Access to Information request.<\/p>\n

Gabbidon first became chairman of HEART on April 3, 2017, and information HEART submitted to a parliamentary committee in July indicates that since his tenure began, 39 contracts were awarded to SynCon valued at $134.6 million.<\/p>\n

That means that 44 per cent of the total monetary value of all contracts awarded to SynCon since 2006 coincided with the period Gabbidon chaired the HEART board.<\/p>\n

In the five years leading up to Gabbidon\u2019s appointment, SynCon was awarded 81 contracts valued at approximately $102 million.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, HEART was also ordered by the finance ministry to discontinue the illegal imposition of a tax on travelling officers, resulting in the chaotic implementation of a new system.<\/p>\n

In further questionable actions, Holness revealed earlier this month that despite having a hotel, HEART spent $5.7 million to host a retreat for its board and senior executives at the Moon Palace Jamaica hotel in St Ann.<\/p>\n

HEART has also admitted to paying out millions in salary increases to some of its senior employees before getting board and finance ministry approvals.<\/p>\n

The prime minister has announced that HEART is undergoing a strategic review because the agency has not been meeting some of its policy objectives.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

More\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image: pexels-sora<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":18381,"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":[157,124],"class_list":["post-20281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-anti-corruption","tag-jamaica"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668481-scaled-e1654222643649.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-5h7","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20288,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/editorial-beyond-edward-gabbidon\/","url_meta":{"origin":20281,"position":0},"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 "Articles"","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":20043,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/heart-ache-pm-golding-wrestle-over-conflict-of-interest-amid-calls-to-pull-gabbidon-as-board-chair\/","url_meta":{"origin":20281,"position":1},"title":"HEART-ACHE PM, Golding wrestle over conflict of interest amid calls to pull Gabbidon as board chair","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"January 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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 of conflict of interest facing the board head. But Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding on Tuesday cautioned the prime\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","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\/12\/audit-g8faaf0f23_1280-e1644524531624.jpg?fit=1025%2C678&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/audit-g8faaf0f23_1280-e1644524531624.jpg?fit=1025%2C678&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/audit-g8faaf0f23_1280-e1644524531624.jpg?fit=1025%2C678&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/audit-g8faaf0f23_1280-e1644524531624.jpg?fit=1025%2C678&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20284,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/why-heart-nsta-trust-chairman-edward-gabbidon-resigned\/","url_meta":{"origin":20281,"position":2},"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 "Articles"","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":20281,"position":3},"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. 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