OUTAMENI FALLOUT: Environmental and women’s groups suspend participation in Partnership for Jamaica....Ten environmental organisations and 13 groups representing women, in separate letters to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, hauled the Government over the coals for disregarding the views of civil society on the Outameni purchase by the National Housing Trust (NHT).

Tuesday, December 16, 2014    

THE Government yesterday faced more fallout from its handling of the Outameni purchase when two influential sectors announced the suspension of their participation in the Partnership For Jamaica (PFJ) on the basis that the Administration has breached the agreement.

Ten environmental organisations and 13 groups representing women, in separate letters to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, hauled the Government over the coals for disregarding the views of civil society on the Outameni purchase by the National Housing Trust (NHT).

The groups are the latest to object to the purchase, which critics have said is outside the remit of the NHT.

Simpson Miller and her Cabinet have also been blasted for refusing to cashier the NHT board, the members of which, have insisted they did nothing illegal and that they acted in the best interest of the NHT's contributors.

Amid growing calls for the board to be dismissed, Simpson Miller appointed new members after three directors resigned at the height of the controversy.

The environmental groups said that, over the past 16 months, they have been profoundly disappointed by the lack of progress towards the transformation in public life which the PFJ explicitly states is necessary.

They said that the recent events concerning the Outameni transactions, as well as other matters, demonstrate that the commitments are not being adhered to by the Government. more