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The Integrity Commission’s findings on the Minister of Health Dr. Christopher Tufton and  Market Me affair did not exonerate nor vindicate the Government Minister with the highest favourability rating.

In fact, Tufton should do the honourable thing and resign with immediate effect.

This whole affair was an outrage and serves as a clear example of the lack of governance and transparency in Jamaica, which renders it a banana republic where anything goes and it is not ready to be taken seriously.

Yes, the rum is good, the parties are great, the music and food are to die for, the ladies are lovely, but it lacks the fundamentals of state governance.

A little over a month into his third term, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has the first major scandal on his hands, mere weeks after being inaugurated. If he allows Tufton to blithely carry on, he will be condoning questionable behaviour in his government. Is this what the country can expect from him after awarding its trust and giving him the mandate to continue in Government?

Mind you, the Prime Minister may be awaiting Tufton’s resignation, allowing him to fall on his sword rather than having to decapitate him.

It is patently clear that there were breaches of Ministry of Finance guidelines and that the connection between Chris Tufton and Lyndsey Mc Donnough in this situation was unconscionable.

Andrew Holness must look Chris Tufton right in the eye and ask him, “What is the nature of your relationship with Lyndsey Mc Donnough?”

It would be impertinent of Tufton to tell the Prime Minister it is none of his business and that he should not have to answer questions concerning his private life.

Such a response would lead to the Prime Minister’s indignation, given the furore Tufton has ignited.

A few years ago, the journalist Zahra Burton (and she is a very good journalist) asked Chris Tufton point blank, “Did you cheat on your wife with any of the principals of Market Me? 

His response was telling but all wrong.

“That’s none of your business. I would prefer you stick to questions around the operations of the ministry. Just as I leave you to your private life, I would like you to allow me mine,” replied Tufton.

There is no private life when you hold senior positions in Government and have the power to award large-value monetary contracts. Levels of accountability and transparency are higher and a man of Tufton’s intelligence should know this. His response would serve him well if he were in corporate life not as a senior Government official.

He cannot make the same mistake with the Prime Minister.

At 54 and already serving in senior ministerial positions, and enjoying public favourability, Tufton was expected to be a frontrunner to succeed Andrew Holness as leader of the JLP in the years to come. Now that has all gone due to his connection to Lyndsey McDonnough.

It will now be tough for Tufton. If this turns out to be a nine-day wonder, it tells you all you need to know about Jamaica.

Market Me was formed in 2013 and, as a fledgling company, was able to win big government contracts from January 2017 to March 2021. It was awarded 15 contracts valued at around $80 million. It put in an unsolicited proposal in 2016 which was expeditiously granted despite reservations by officials at both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance.

What made Market Me and Lyndsey McDonnough so special that the Ministry of Health bent over to give it so many contracts? Are those contracts still on going? 

Reading the Integrity Commissions Report on the Market Me drama (Page 73) it transpires that a month or two after Tufton became the Minister of Health (2016), there were deficiencies in Market Me’s proposal. An absence of documentation was cited. Feedback was given to Market Me and it was asked to fix the deficiencies before resubmitting the unsolicited proposal.

Minister Tufton then instructed the Ministry of Health to award the contracts to Market Me.

What is particularly damming is that there was already an advertising agency in place to preside over a similar campaign that Market Me was proposing but it got dumped in favour of Market Me. Why? 

Some might say, for whatever reason, Market Me had an unfair advantage in winning these contracts. The question is did the contracts go out to tender, and what other companies were in the running? Greater scrutiny is required and Tufton still has plenty of questions to answer.

Whatever the nature of the “friendship” with Lyndsey Mc Donnough, Tufton should do the right thing and step down. Either way you look at it, this is a case of connected parties. This whole situation looks bad and by hanging on he just embarrasses himself.

Jenette Calder, founder and Executive Director of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP) is a very smart, accomplished and articulate woman. She makes the point that there were egregious breaches here and that there is a lack of accountability. More light must be shed on the awarding of these contracts to Market Me and the relationship between Chris Tufton and Lyndsey McDonnough.

Furthermore, she notes that Bobby Montague, Andrew Wheatley and William Hutchinson had to step down from ministerial positions for far less infractions.

The Prime Minister must have all this top of mind as far as Tufton is concerned.

While Tufton was not directly responsible for awarding these contracts, the whole sorry mess falls in his lap and he must pay the price for his lack of due care.

Opposition Spokesperson on Justice, Zuleika Jess, quite rightly has said this kind of blatant disregard of adhering to procurement guidelines and lack of transparency undermines trust in politicians and parliamentarians. No wonder less than 40 per cent of the population came out to vote – they don’t trust politicians and this Tufton situation is why.

The IC report further states that, “The Director of Investigation finds that Minister Tufton’s actions could reasonably be considered to have indirectly influenced the engagement of Market Me, which ultimately resulted in that entity being awarded contracts of just under $80 million.”

That statement right there is what condemns Tufton. His association with McDonnough in whatever capacity has undone him and should cost him what he hungers for… and for what?  It was uttermost folly. He should have declared and made known his “friendship” with McDonnough, particularly when he knew she was looking to be awarded those contracts.

But Tufton doesn’t see it that way.

“While it was critical of aspects of the administration of the process directed at the Ministry, there is nothing in the report to suggest anything untoward. From that standpoint, I think it represents vindication. My only regret is that it has taken so long and a number of persons and entities, including the Ministry, would have suffered some reputational damage and concern,” said Tufton.

Many people won’t go for that.

The Prime Minister cannot be blamed for bristling at the number of negative and embarrassing situations coming from the Ministry of Health. The drill bit saga, cost overruns at Cornwall Regional Hospital, the dead babies debacle, the COVID vaccine mix-up…. now this.

The Prime Minister prides himself as a strategist, and the Tufton situation will put that to the test. He may be reticent to point Tufton to the doo,r given his own situation over his statutory declarations and other matters the Integrity Commission has uncovered. There might be some sympathy there – comrades under fire by a pernicious Integrity Commission.

Tufton’s barb that the Prime Minister “doesn’t like bright people” must have stung and he may be waiting for the right time to get retribution for those ill-chosen words. But if he pulls the trigger on Tufton, it may be viewed as vindication of what Tufton had said all along and that Andrew Holness used this as brinkmanship to upend Tufton’s career.

The clear and present danger to Holness’ leadership tenure is Tufton. He had to see off Audley Shaw and sooner or later, he will have to fend off Tufton. Why not put him before the ‘firing squad’ while sending a message to those with vaunted ambitions?

He can be Andrew the merciful, letting it be known to Tufton that his neck was in the noose and it was he who removed it, therefore demanding his committed loyalty and come to heel when the Prime Minister calls.

Perhaps this is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Remove Tufton and replace him with his good friend Andrew Wheatley, thus returning him to a top Cabinet position.

By downing Tufton, Andrew Holness will appease the baying mob, demonstrating that he is a leader of integrity and expects those in his Cabinet to abide by expected ethical standards. The Prime Minister can end the blowback from this drama onto his government right here and now.

Many highly valued men have been sunk by their “friendships”. They threw it all away – family, career, aspirations on this capricious wheel.

This may very well be the time for atonement.