Lionel Myrie’s appointment as TPDCo boss rescinded

The appointment of Lionel Myrie as interim executive director of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) has been rescinded amid strong backlash.

Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, says the decision was made today following consultation with the Ministry's permanent secretary, Jennifer Griffith, and TPDCo's board.

Instead, TPDCo's director of corporate services, Georgeia Robinson, has been appointed as interim head until the recruitment of a new executive director is finalised this month.

In a statement, Bartlett said that Myrie will continue to serve in his role as director of product development and community tourism.

Critics, including the parliamentary opposition, had come out against Myrie's appointment arguing that a cloud still hangs over him arising from his role in the scandal at the state-owned oil refinery Petrojam.

Myrie, a then director of the Petroleum Corporation Jamaica (PCJ), Petrojam's parent company, faced strong backlash for his role in controversial multimillion-dollar donations by the oil refinery.

Petrojam had acknowledged that an email Myrie sent to then Petrojam General Manager Floyd Grindley “formed the basis” on which the company granted a $10 million donation requested by the Homestead Citizens for Action Benevolent Society.

The donation was requested for the construction of two classroom blocks at the Homestead Primary School in St Catherine and the money was paid directly to the institution.

A performance audit of Petrojam, which was conducted by the Auditor General's Department, found that Myrie also forwarded, on behalf of a citizens group identified as the Sydenham Citizens' Association, an email to Grindley requesting a $9 million donation for a community project.

This donation is the subject of an investigation by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency.

During an appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament in May 2019, Myrie acknowledged that in both cases he was merely acting as a “courier”.

Myrie insisted at the time that when he forwarded the emails to Grindley, he was not acting in his capacity as a PCJ director or as an assistant to former Energy Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley.

The opposition had argued that Myrie has failed to distinguish himself as a fit and proper manager of public funds.

He explained that in his role at the tourism agency his focus includes creating a product of diversity and quality through the establishment and deepening of key partnerships with academia, communities, government and the private sector.

He informed that Myrie first joined TPDCo as a destination manager for the resort area of Negril.

Bartlett added that he possesses quantifiable local and overseas experience in areas of operations management, policy development, corporate governance and destination management.

He further stated that Myrie's expertise will prove critical to spearheading the operations of and leading the product development and community tourism team at the agency to actualise their mandate of preserving the cultural heritage product of Jamaica; creating new diverse products and modification of existing tourism products. 

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