The minister is selling unfit green mangoes
ABOUT two decades ago, when former PM and Leader of the Opposition Edward Seaga was under pressure from all sectors of the society for him to give up the political ghost and make way for new thought and direction, one of the suggestions made by him — and at least one of his relatives — was that critics should criticise less and instead offer themselves for political representation.
It is the standard knee-jerk response of politicians after they have spent years begging us for votes, and no evidence has been presented that it was the people who had pushed or urged them to offer/impose themselves on us.
Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton and Works Minister Omar Davies have just signed a ‘non-binding’ MOU with Krauck Systems out of Austria/Germany and Anchor Finance Group out of New York ostensibly to begin talks and plans for the US$5-billion buildout of Jamaica’s logistics hub, and I am certain that Minister Hylton is of the view that those who have criticised the signing are evil people who do not want to see Jamaica prosper.
Well, here is the thing, Minister. Based on the track record of grand announcements by this Administration and the resulting damp squib afterwards, many people simply do not trust anything that politicians tell them, especially in grand announcements.
The mistrust is made easier when the companies involved have websites that do not do their organisations justice, that is, if they are into the business of advertising and selling themselves to an international community.
When I did some basic investigations last week on Krauck Systems Mr Kohlbecker, who responded to me, at first referred me to their generic website, which stated what they were into, what they could do, but did not list a single project that they had completed.
A few hours after, he sent me some references that were not on the website, and those mentioned — in a quite haphazard manner — various projects done, but still no dates were attached and neither were costs appended. Among the things Kohlbecker said Krauck had managed/built was a palace in Oman.
Imagine that he runs a company that builds palaces and his website does not scream out the date it was built, the partners associated with it, the client, and the cost. As for Anchor Finance Group, its well-concealed website is as generic at it gets, and the site was built by using wix.com, a site that advertises free websites.
I know large companies in Jamaica, one in particular, which had a professional build its website for US$500,000! Yes, in little Jamaica! And yet a company that has indicated to Minister Hylton that it will be sourcing US$5 billion cannot even find the funds to construct a proper website.
Again, the site tells you some glorious things that Anchor can do and will do, but it has not cited a single instance of something it has done. Mid last week I had a friend who holds a powerful position for a large multinational financial organisation based in California run a check on Anchor Finance Group.
He asked someone in another department to run the check as if they intended to do business with the firm to the tune of a paltry US$1.5 million.
The results which came back, which I am unable to personally confirm said by email: “This is high risk; very high. I would recommend not starting work.
If we have started, we need to consider stopping.” As I said in last Sunday’s column, maybe the minister knows something which we do not, but in the age of the Internet, where governmental transparency is only mentioned at the swearing in of a prime minister but never actually practised, journalists and civil society have a duty to conduct their own investigations.
If Minister Hylton had made a definite decision to choose two companies whose published antecedents (via websites) would generate a flurry of questions doubting their capabilities, he could not have done a better job in choosing Krauck and Anchor. Oh, I err here, because we were informed by the minister that these were unsolicited enquiries/bids.
At no stage did the minister convince the nation that he had even conducted a minimum of due diligence before unleashing two unknowns on us. But not to worry.
One assumes that the MOU will run for a year or so in the first instance, but with the mentioned 30-day clause which gives both entities that time to prove to the Government that they have the funds, the funds are clean, and the companies have the expertise and financial stamina to embark on the biggest-ever foreign direct investment in our history — US$5 billion.
Long before we came to this, the minister had set out to sell his idea to his Cabinet colleagues and especially the nation.
Sorely lacking is that thing called charisma. Under normal circumstances, it would be hard for Minister Hylton to sell even a bottle of iced water to a man exiting the Gobi desert.
To be fair to him, once the PNP had handsomely won the 2011 election and he had been appointed to his ministry, he hit the ground running.
In 2012, he and a political colleague of his requested a meeting with me where they proudly displayed the PNP’s Progressive Agenda, largely a grand manifesto for the PNP’s progress in the 21st century; but, in retrospect, philosophical fluff designed for PNP diehards who can negotiate their way through all 26 letters of the alphabet.
To the little man at street level, he would have found a more practical use for the Progressive Agenda if not for the fact that the pages were too glossy. They also touted the fact that all three of us shared a common alma mater — Kingston College. In reality, we were not discussing Manning Cup or Champs. This was the country’s business at a much higher level.
I had about two other meetings with the minister and members of his technical team, including Dr Eric Deans, with impressive slideshows of what a complex and sequential logistics hub in Jamaica would look like.
I was blown away by the possibilities, but then it did not dawn on me that the minister had picked young, green mangoes and was hoping that, through a process of ‘biological alchemy’, they could somehow be transformed into big, juicy ripe fruits.
In early 2013, I was invited to attend the two-day Logistics Hub Taskforce Retreat, where impressive speeches were made by various individuals who were said to be experts in their respective fields. While they were gung ho on Jamaica’s logistics hub, the muttering on the floor was quite different with one man, a manager of his department whispering to me: “I get two days off from work, but I have to come here and hear them talk about these fancy plans which will never happen.” In 2014, I began to criticise what I saw as the minister’s penchant for too much boring talk and not enough action, especially after he was traipsing all over the globe.
From reports coming back to me, my name was mud in the minister’s eyes. How dare I criticise him! It is not a secret that Minister Hylton wants to be PNP president one day, and I am certain that the JLP is looking forward to that with some glee.
In the present matter with Krauck Systems and Anchor Finance Group, I am at this stage still convinced that those companies do not have the breadth of experience, knowledge, capability, and funding to engage this project from start to completion.
It is quite possible that what motivated the minister to sign such an MOU without the requisite due diligence was that his mouth caught up with him and he had no other option but to raise his bet and play for time. His other option was to bail, but his pride and ego forced him to move forward to an unknown end.
If this is the culmination of three years of hard work on his part — an unsolicited show of interest — one needs to ask exactly what it is he had been doing taking all these trips on behalf of the people of this country.
Neither of the companies’ websites, plus my communication with Krauck, indicate that they will be comfortable in taking on the mammoth task ahead. That is what is being criticised along with the fact that this Administration is woefully short on coming straight with the people. The magic words are ’30 days’.
On day 31 we will know if people like me were wrong and need to apologise fulsomely or if the minister is more adept than the rest of us in pulling rabbits out of a hat. The magic date is May 22. Then it will either be a big hit or a logistics flub. observemark@gmail.com