EDITORIAL - Find a competent boss for NSWMA

Not since Ms Ana Treasure was its boss, in its early days of operation, has there been someone at the helm of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) who had either the vision or technical competence to lead the organisation to what it was intended to be - a modern solid waste-management company.

So, the NSWMA had done just what the regional agencies it succeeded did - collect and dispose of garbage at dumps, with minimal pretence that these sites were landfills. It has also been a gravy train for the politically connected and a barrel from which to slip occasional bits of pork to the party faithful at the lower rungs.

Indeed, in a 2005 report, though the then contractor general, Derrick McKoy, found no evidence that the then board and management of the NSWMA operated the agency to their personal benefit, he discovered "flagrant disregard for government policies and procedures".

Mr McKoy, apparently, did not believe that this was done by accident or in ignorance. For there was, he said, "concerted efforts to circumvent the Government's procurement policies and procedures".

Said Mr McKoy: "Such actions have helped to foster the public perception that the NSWMA is rife with corruption and cronyism."

Seven years and two administrations later, this perception remains.

During the previous Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration, the People's National Party complained about its appointment of JLP politician, Joan Gordon-Webley, as executive director of the NSWMA. Mrs Gordon-Webley was not known to have a background in solid-waste management, engineering, environmental science or any similar discipline.

The then Opposition sniped, too, at the deployment of the agency's resources. In fact, when he took office in January, Noel Arscott, the minister under whose portfolio the NSWMA falls, ordered an audit into the finances of the agency, especially in the face of a mysterious pre-election fire at its headquarters in which records were destroyed.

The more things change ...

Ironically, the agency, under the new Government, has had to back off of the award of a new security contract that had a fishy tincture, after procedural questions - like whether it went to tender - were raised by the current contractor general, Greg Christie. Mr Christie has also felt compelled to open an investigation into the award of contracts for the fighting of fires at the Riverton City dump, which the NSWMA refers to as a landfill.

Under the new administration, so far, things at the NSWMA are just as smelly as in the past.

What the NSWMA needs is a competent boss, skilled in the science and techniques of modern solid-waste management, who has a vision of what is possible for the agency. The time for political operatives never was, and is long past.

Indeed, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller must insist that another one of those is not sent to the agency, no matter how loyal that person may be to the party or the PM, or how important it may be to find a job for him, or her.

We have seen the consequence of this kind of hiring practice at the agency in the frequent fires at the Riverton City dump, the assault on the health of Kingston's residents, and the misuse of taxpayers' money.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.