IN JAMAICA: The Outameni scandal casualties: DBJ write-off decision came under Audley Shaw's watch.... After seeing the valuation, which was put at $311 million, they were ready to vote 'no' to Outameni

BY DESMOND ALLEN Executive editor - special assignment allend@jamaicaobserver.com  Thursday, November 20, 2014 

WHEN Outameni Experience Chairman Lennie Little-White offered his ailing attraction to the National Housing Trust (NHT) board members on November 7, 2012, everyone present liked the feel-good concept and thought it could be a good legacy project after they had scotched the idea of replicating Emancipation Park in the west, because of costs.

After seeing the valuation, which was put at $311 million, they were ready to vote 'no' to Outameni when one member suggested they have a look at the property first. Easton Douglas, the chairman of the board, his Managing Director Cecile Watson, and General Manager Donald Moore were whisked by Jamaica Defence Force helicopter on an aerial tour of the area.

It was a good day to fly, with clear blue skies, but as they praised the skill of the female pilot, none of the three could see the dark clouds which were gathering over the horizon.

Before long, Watson would be out of a job, four members of the board would resign in unconfirmed support of her, the board would come under a firestorm of criticism for deciding to buy the Outameni property for $180 million, and there would be calls for the head of the chairman. And the casualties of what was becoming a 'war' being played out in the media and the Parliament over the NHT-Outameni saga had only just begun.

Douglas, a three-time government minister in the People's National Party (PNP) Administration and an accomplished valuation surveyor, who carries the professional designation FRICS (Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), charted the course for the flight. In Trelawny they were joined by an unnamed person with considerable knowledge of the area. more