MONTEGO BAY, St James – Maureen Webber, the People’s National Party deputy general secretary who it has been reported is on her way out of the party’s executive, has denied claims by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) that she has been appointed to the position of chief executive officer of the National Housing Development Corporation Limited (NHDC).

“I have not been appointed to anything; that is not true,” Webber told the Observer in a telephone interview yesterday.

Earlier yesterday, Dr Horace Chang who is the JLP’s spokesman on housing, charged in a statement that Webber’s appointment to the post was “inappropriate at this time”.

“While Ms Webber may be academically qualified, her appointment to the leadership of this important statutory body directly after demitting a completely partisan post in the PNP, gives cause for concern,” Chang said.

He alleged that it was business as usual in the Portia Simpson Miller-led administration and party loyalty continues to be paramount in the decision-making process for appointments to key government positions.

The JLP spokesman, who is also a deputy leader of the party, called on Simpson Miller to reconsider Webber’s alleged appointment and asked that she “be mindful of the fact that her ascension to the post of leader of the country was driven largely by the desire of the Jamaican citizenry for a change in how the business of government is conducted and a demand for greater transparency”.

But Webber, who refused to comment on rumours that she is leaving the PNP’s secretariat, argued that “it does not mean if someone leaves politics they can’t serve in the development of the country”.

She added that the matter of delivering housing solutions was not about politics but is instead for the betterment of the country.

Meanwhile, Marie Iton, the NHDC’s human resource manager has also denied the JLP’s claims about Webber’s appointment.

“The post of managing director is still vacant; the position has been advertised in the print media and the cut-off period for applications is June 12,” Iton said. “After that the (NHDC) board will start to do the interviews,” she added.

The NHDC has been without a managing director since last June after Milverton Reynolds was seconded to another state-owned entity – the Jamaica Mortgage Bank. Since then, Joseph Shoucair, the company’s secretary has been acting in that capacity.

Four years ago, the NHDC came under much scrutiny after a number of irregularities were uncovered at the corporation. This resulted in the government commissioning the Erwin Angus probe into the operations of the NHDC. The probe pointed to ministerial interference, cronyism and poor management in Operation Pride, the government’s shelter programme.

However, an examination of the Erwin Angus report, conducted by Ambassador Dr Kenneth Rattray, accused the Angus team of failing to carry out a rigorous and in-depth examination of the facts before arriving at its conclusions.