DOUGLAS Chambers, a chartered accountant of the accounting firm Chambers, Henry and Partners, took leave from his company last September to earn $1.00 a year to chair the board of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).

He was mandated to turn around the loss-making bus company and stop the internal haemorrhaging of the firm's revenue, said to have reached as high as $30 million monthly.

JUTC chairman Douglas Chambers (second left) was in high spirits among his close friends who had gathered to celebrate with Transport Minister Mike Henry (left) on his birthday last Saturday in Alligator Pond. Sharing in the moment are Joel Williams (right) and Dennis Morgan. (Photo: Llewellyn Wynter)

Mike Henry, the transport minister, told Chambers and his board members that if they did not perform they would be removed.

Chambers, however, began to implement measures to improve the performance of the ailing bus company, instead earning commendations from the Government and the public.

Unfortunately, he was not allowed to finish the job as gunmen yesterday shot him dead in a hail of bullets outside the head office of the bus company in Twickenham Park, Spanish Town, St Catherine.

Chambers, who had been receiving several death threats, had come under increased pressure after the board announced it was cutting more than 400 jobs and was putting in systems to protect the company's revenues from internal theft.

Workers who were on the list to lose their jobs had openly threatened to shoot Chambers at a meeting at the Ministry of Labour in downtown Kingston three weeks ago.

According to a close associate, Joel Williams, in spite of the threats, Chambers never appeared perturbed. "I called him this morning and he said there were negotiations today (Friday)," Williams told the Observer. "He was in good spirits."

Another source close to Chambers told the Observer that the JUTC chairman had actually refused security detail since he began receiving threats from the workers.

In the midst of the JUTC upheaval, Williams said that Chambers' accounting firm was on the verge of expanding outside of Jamaica, but he sought instead to stay and complete his mandate to clean up the state-owned bus company.

"It was not a job he was taking any salary for," said a grieving Williams. "He was doing this as service to the country, he was not taking a dime."

As the news of Chambers' murder sent shockwaves across the country, Williams told the Observer that his spouse and young daughter were at home being consoled by a close family friend.

"It is just unbelievable," he said.

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