KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition spokesman on Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda on Wednesday criticised members of the cabinet for “using taxpayers’ money to finance glossy copies of their sectoral debate speeches for distribution”.

“This is a magazine. This is not a speech,” Samuda commented, as he reviewed the make-up of Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton’s ‘A Logistic Centred Economy’.

“Now I won’t tell you no lie minister, at no time would I have the nerve to promote myself in this mode or fashion at this expense, at a time when taxpayers have no money and we, as Members of Parliament, can’t even get a raise of pay,” Samuda said.

The glossy, digital-printed copies have been the talk of the galleries and press box at Gordon House since the start of the sectoral debate, as the ministers’ members of staff appear to be outdoing each other with the quality pictures digitally separated and printed on glossy paper costing approximately $70 per page to print, after pre-print costs.

The top productions, so far, seems to be Minister of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna’s ‘Not Leaving it to Chance’ and National Security Minister Peter Bunting’s ‘Working Together to Build a Safer Jamaica’. But, the colour reproduced in Hylton’s presentation was really attractive.

Samuda’s comment triggered a very noisy response from the Government MPs, who tried to shout him down, until Deputy Speaker Lloyd B Smith intervened and cool down things.

Samuda insisted that some Government members making noise were hypocrites, because he saw them murmuring about the documents themselves.

He reminded Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller that when he was a member of a PNP cabinet in the 1990s, “I regularly commented on the elaborate presentations of the annuals reports that come to Parliament”.

“They must be more modest, and they must stop wasting money, no matter how small,” Samuda argued. However, he suggested that it reflected Hylton’s “lifestyle”.

“He has never changed from day one. So I am not going to quarrel with him, but all I am saying is, don’t come back with something (like this),” he added.

Hylton in a sotto voce remark from his seat said that it was done by his staff.

It could not be ascertained how much these speeches are costing the ministers, but an experienced printer suggested that the speeches were digitally printed for at least $70 per page, after pre-print costs, including designs and separations.