SINCE its closure in 1997, the former Goodyear factory just outside Morant Bay, St Thomas, has been like a thorn in the side of the current Government.

Several attempts to turn it into a post-Goodyear success have failed and, even now, a last-gasp bid to divest it has become mired in controversy.

The issue almost broke up the sitting of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) of the House of Representatives in the wee hours of April 4, as Opposition MPs questioned the process of divestment of the property.

MP for West St Thomas, James Robertson (JLP), lashed out at minister of industry, technology, energy and commerce Phillip Paulwell, for failing, he said, to keep the St Thomas community abreast of the developments.

Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and foreign trade Karl Samuda warned against selling “Jamaican soil” to friends and fundraisers of the Government.

Eventually, Paulwell admitted that the Cabinet was studying a proposal to sell the 23-acre property to a sole bidder, later identified as Upliftment Jamaica, a St Thomas charity headed by Gary Foster, a Jamaican-born US hip-hop industry executive, whose relationship with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller triggered questions about the privacy of the deal and the role of the bidder as a fundraiser for the ruling party.

Last week, Robertson told the Sunday Observer that he had nothing against Upliftment Jamaica leasing the premises.

However, Robertson insisted that Paulwell had not gone about the process in a transparent way.

“The minister has not sat down with the business leaders, the mayor, the custos, the councillors, or even the MPs, in St Thomas to discuss the matter. We do not have a full understanding of what is to be divested,” the Opposition MP said last Thursday.

“He deceived the people of St Thomas, as well as the private investors who came in to assist,” Robertson charged.

He claimed that the minister misled the community into thinking that the property was only being leased, and also misled Foster into believing that the concerns being expressed about the sale were aimed at him.

“What we are opposed to is the lack of accountability and transparency on his (Paulwell’s) part,” Robertson said.

Upliftment Jamaica was founded in 1999 by a group of young men from White Horses, St Thomas, led by Foster, a vice-president for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons’ Rush Communications in New York.

One founding member of the group, Kirk Green, and board member Barrington Biswick, have since been murdered, but Foster has managed to keep the effort going.

Upliftment Jamaica seems awash with US dollars from various companies, organisations and individuals ranging from the Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc – which lists Upliftment Jamaica among its US$15,000-US$24,000 per annum beneficiaries – to Simmons who handed over US$25,000 last time he was here.

Last December, Digicel pledged $5 million to Upliftment which also earns cash from the sale of items like flashy “Upliftment Jamaica” T-shirts, which go for US$40 apiece on the Internet and come with a complimentary hip-hop CD featuring legends like Pete Rock.

Upliftment’s board members range from Dr Benjamin Chavis, the American rights activist, to local booking agent/artiste manager Sharon Burke. Its advisory board includes dancehall DJs Buju Banton and Bounty Killer, as well as US congressman Gregory Meeks.

Suspicions about Foster’s political leanings seem to have been triggered by his affection for Prime Minister Simpson Miller for whom he has also raised funds.

Foster was instrumental in the staging of the prime minister’s glitzy inaugural ball last April at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, for which he was the co-chairman.

Foster may have also poured some fuel on the fire since the committee meeting, when he told one local media that Robertson was a bad MP, and another that he may seek to represent the PNP in West St Thomas in retaliation – statements which have filtered through the Caribbean-American media in the United States.

“I forgive Foster for what he said,” Robertson reacted last Thursday. “I am not getting personal or trivial. Politics is politics, you can’t be petty or thin-skinned about what a man says. I am here to represent the people of St Thomas at all times, not to be caught up with personalities.”

“I welcome anything that is done to help the people of St Thomas, and he (Foster) has even admitted that I have been supportive of his work, and I will continue to be supportive, regardless of what position he takes,” the MP added.

But whether it was Foster or someone else, the Government’s divestment of the former Goodyear property was sure to create a row because of the large amount of money that has been expended since the 1990s.

In March last year, Government Senator Noel Sloley admitted to the Senate that the Government had made a mistake in investing millions of dollars in the failed technology park planned for the property.

“I was eventually put in charge of the company that owned it, and I took the decision to halt construction,” Senator Sloley said.

This followed accusations from Opposition senator, Shirley Williams, that more than $153 million was wasted in the failed effort in 2002. Cable and Wireless Jamaica also injected $90 million into the flopped exercise, as part of its telecommunications deal with the Government in 2000.

Sloley said the problem is that information technology investors are not interested in Morant Bay; they prefer Montego Bay.

Prior to that revelation, the Auditor-General had found that a loan for $225 million was made by the National Insurance Fund (NIF) to the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) to finance information technology projects in 2003, including the Goodyear park.

The fact that the loan was guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance and Planning, without prior parliamentary approval, led to the much reported controversy over government guarantees and “comfort letters” in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives in 2005.

Foster, too, seemed somewhat confused about Upliftment’s deal with the Government, a situation not helped by the lack of transparency. He was chided by the FCJ for premature statements about taking over the premises.

In January last year, he told the press that Upliftment Jamaica had acquired the premises and would rename it Upliftment Jamaica 21st Century Training Centre. A week later, a letter from deputy general manager of the FCJ, Marsha Davidson, and published in the press, clarified that the property was still owned by the FCJ and that “there are no negotiations in progress for the re-naming of the property or transfer of same to any private organisation”.

Davidson pointed out, however, that the FCJ was anxious to have the property occupied, and was “considering (an) expression of interest for lease of a section of the complex by Upliftment Jamaica Limited”.

That was the last official statement on the future of the property, until the uproar in the Standing Finance Committee earlier this month.