MP spending spree - CDF Christmas payouts 'overboard' but politicians resist cap
Published:Monday | October 25, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
Constituency Development Fund (CDF)-loving members of parliament (MP) stoutly resisted attempts by technocrats from the fund's Programme Management Unit to limit their spending on Christmas work in their constituencies.
Minutes from an in camera meeting held on December 1, 2009 showed that Pauline Scott-Blair, project development specialist of the CDF unit in the Office of the Prime Minister, told the bipartisan parliamentary CDF committee that the unit felt that "some of the levels of the Christmas work programme for some constituencies were overboard".
She argued further that the absence of spending limits hindered the technocrats in the CDF unit from addressing the matter.
"Mrs Scott-Blair asked if the committee could speak to the members and request that they consider a cap on the amount for projects, given the circumstances. She said that that would include those that were already approved," read a section of the minutes.
But the MPs would not countenance the thought of capping spending on Yuletide projects, often doled out to unemployed and underemployed constituents, many of whom are party supporters.
People's National Party (PNP) MP Natalie Neita-Headley, who broke the CDF rules a year earlier by pushing ahead with a $1.3-million roadwork project without first securing approval for the expenditure, was one of the first committee members to raise an objection to the proposal of a cap.
"Member Neita-Headley disagreed, stating that the window of opportunity had already gone. She said that the inner-city constituencies might have a smaller geographic area but the levels of unemployment might be much greater than in her constituency that has a wider geographic area. She said that the circumstances in the different areas might be different," the minutes revealed.
St Aubyn Bartlett, the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MP for Eastern St Andrew, supported his colleague from the opposition benches, as the usually bitterly divided MPs circled the CDF wagon.
According to the minutes, Bartlett said he did not believe the committee could determine the level of spending in a member's constituency. He added that persons might want to spend on what they considered big items in their constituencies.
"He (Bartlett) said that Christmas employment and other types of Christmas work are big items in some constituencies," read another section of the minutes.
Everald Warmington, chairman of the parliamentary CDF committee, then asked the other members for their opinion on how to proceed.
"He enquired whether a limit should be put on those areas of work," the minutes noted.
Neita-Headley opined that the committee could not consider a cap at this point in the programme as it did not start with that initial decision. However, she added that "going forward, the committee could consider looking at the issue".
Earlier in the meeting, Moveta Munroe, director of the CDF Unit, said that "in light of the urgency of the Christmas work", the unit was trying to accommodate the MPs by bringing the projects to the committee with a view to having them approved.