The People’s National Party notes the appointment of Major-General Anthony Anderson as Chief Executive Officer of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA). 

We expect that Major Anderson will execute the responsibilities of this office with the transparency, integrity, and accountability that the post demands and that the Jamaican people are entitled to receive.

However, this appointment raises serious questions that the Government must answer openly and without delay. In particular, the Party wishes to know whether Major-General Anderson applied for this position in the ordinary course of the initial recruitment exercise. 

If he did not, the public deserves a full and candid explanation as to why that process failed to produce a suitable candidate. A recruitment exercise that yields no appointable candidate is not merely an administrative inconvenience; it is a signal that something is fundamentally wrong with the framework governing this institution. 

The People’s National Party has consistently raised concerns about the governance deficiencies embedded in the NaRRA legislation. This appointment does nothing to allay those concerns. On the contrary, it reinforces them. That the Government appears to have found it necessary to draw upon a serving Ambassador to Jamaica’s most important international partner (who has only been in that post for 12 months) to fill this role, is itself instructive. It suggests strongly that credible candidates from within the relevant professional pool were deterred by the structural and governance arrangements that this Party has repeatedly flagged as inadequate.

Appointing a loyal military/policing technocrat to lead this civilian authority, in circumstances where the recruitment process appears not to have run its proper course, is not a solution to the governance problems within NaRRA. It is a symptom of them, and we call on the Government to be transparent with the Jamaican people about the full circumstances of this appointment. 

We further call on the Government to bring amending legislation to address the salient governance deficiencies that continue to undermine public confidence in NaRRA, and to ensure that the institution is placed on a sound and accountable footing without further delay.

The People’s National Party remains committed to holding the Government accountable in the interest of all Jamaicans.