NEPA inspector interdicted over controversial Charlemont complex back on the job

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) enforcement inspector who was the first to flag breaches at a controversial housing development undertaken by a senior public officer and his wife is back at work.

The inspector, Rhyan Henry, returned to work today, his industrial relations representative Senator Lambert Brown confirmed.

It comes 37 days after Henry was sent home to allow the regulatory body to conduct a “disciplinary investigation” into “allegations of gross misconduct” related to the construction of an apartment complex at Charlemont Drive in St Andrew.

President of the state-owned National Water Commission Mark Barnett, his wife Annette, and Phillip Smith are the developers of the project.

A report by the Integrity Commission revealed that on December 17, 2020, during a seventh visit to the construction site, Henry detected that the layout had deviated from the drawings that had been approved, received, and date-stamped by NEPA on July 3, 2019.

The commission is Jamaica's main anti-corruption body.

It concluded, in a scathing 90-page report made public last October, that the apartment complex, now listed as completed, has six two-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units, “in breach of the permits issued.”

The building, planning, and environmental permits issued to the Barnetts on August 13, 2019, were for the construction of two three-storey blocks consisting of 12 one-bedroom units, the commission's report revealed.

However, Director of Human Resource Management and Development at NEPA, Karlene Hamilton-Reid indicated, in a January 17 letter to Henry, that the investigation was based on allegations that he brought NEPA into “disrepute” because of his failure to “satisfactorily” carry out his monitoring duties at the housing development.

She indicated, too, that Henry is being investigated for “inefficient work performance” for allegedly failing to carry out established enforcement procedures “with respect to monitoring” the project.

But in a letter dated yesterday, Hamilton-Reid told Henry that the investigation has been completed and that his interdiction “will be discontinued with immediate effect”.

“You are required to return to your normal duties of enforcement inspector in the enforcement branch with effect from Friday 23 February 2024,” said the letter seen by The Gleaner.

NEPA had previously backed away from its decision to cut Henry's salary by 20 per cent while he was on interdiction.

- Livern Barrett

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