THE minister of justice, Senator Mark Golding, on several occasions in recent days, made the claim that the hourly cost of the West Kingston enquiry is roughly the same as the hourly cost of the enquiry into the collapse of the financial sector. The minister claimed that the former is US$1,670 per hour and the latter is US$1,650 per hour, a difference of only US$20.00.

His assertion is wrong and he should take urgent steps to apologise to the people of Jamaica for making this erroneous and misleading statement.

Compare apples with apples

I have carefully set out the various categories in which the minister sought to make the comparisons.

When the rates for the chairman and two commissioners, plus the senior and junior counsel to the West Kingston commission of enquiry, as well as the secretary to the commission, are totalled, this correctly comes up to US$1,670 per hour. The minister is correct on that one.

However, when the similar positions for the financial sector enquiry are totalled, the figure is US$1,300 per hour, and not US$1,650, as claimed by Minister Golding.

In order for him to arrive at the magic figure of US$1,650 per hour for the financial sector enquiry, the minister conveniently decided to add the rates set for an economist and researcher that were only one-off rates lasting for five days each for the financial sector enquiry, and not rates which applied to the 80 projected days of the enquiry. So, Minister Golding has proved the point, once again, that “there are lies, and there are statistics”.

I, therefore, decided to do a more careful comparison of the extended costs over the period of both inquiries and the following summary gives a fair hourly cost comparison over the tenure of both inquiries. See table for details.

Also:

* The West Kingston enquiry commissioners are paid a maximum of 540 hours to write the report. The financial sector commissioners did not get this compensation.

* The items listed as professional support in the financial sector enquiry was not put in the hourly costs as they were a one-off cost for five days.

* From the table above, it is clear that the West Kingston commission has an hourly cost of more than twice the cost of the financial sector enquiry.

In addition to the costs already cited, a comparison of administrative costs shows an hourly cost of US$225.00 per hour for the West Kingston enquiry and US$47.00 for the financial sector enquiry, putting the subtotal to US$1,895.00 for the West Kingston enquiry and US$1,347 for the financial sector enquiry.

And when the hourly costs for the six lawyers assigned to the Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Constabulary Force are added, an additional US$1,500 per hour must be added to the cost of the West Kingston enquiry, putting that total up to US$3,395 per hour, compared with US$1,347 per hour for the financial sector enquiry — a whopping US$2,048 more per hour for the West Kingston enquiry when compared with the financial sector enquiry. (Note, I have placed a nominal US$250 per hour for each lawyer, although I suspect that several of the senior attorneys assigned are likely to be receiving US$300 per hour, so this figure could be more, not less).

So, regarding my claim that the West Kingston enquiry was double that of the financial sector enquiry, I was wrong. It’s more than double the cost, Minister.

But the comparison does not stop there. In the West Kingston enquiry, commissioners and their lawyers and the secretary are assigned many days at full hourly rates for work other than appearing at the sittings of the commission.

For example, the chairman and the commissioners are each given:

* nine hours a day to a maximum of 64 days for sittings of the commission (576 days)

* five hours per day for 10 days for pre-commission reading time (50 days)

* five hours per day for 15 days for after-sittings (weekends) (75 days)

* nine hours per day for 60 days for report writing time. (540 days)

For these hours, the chairman of the commission will be compensated up to US$459,100 ($52.8m) and the commissioners US$372,300 ($42.8m), the senior attorney to the West Kingston commission US$446,100 ($51.3m) and the junior attorney US$371,750 ($42.7m), and the secretary reportedly some $28m. The total cost of this enquiry is projected to be $340m.

But at a press conference earlier this week, the minister of finance suggested that he is not aware of a final budget and the numbers being used are without a sound foundation. Bear in mind that Minister Golding said at his press conference that the Cabinet had approved a budget of over $300m. Which of the ministers must we believe?

The bottom line

The commissioners of the financial sector enquiry had less hourly compensation and were not favoured with extra time on weekends or report writing time. When these extra privileges are combined, there are an additional 615 hours each for weekends and report writing for the West Kingston commissioners, lawyers and secretary.

In the circumstances, where the financial sector inquiry, having cost less than $120m already, and now requires $10m to be completed, the Government will be found guilty of propagating a shameful cover-up of the report into the collapse of the financial sector, which has had a devastating impact on the Jamaican economy and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans.

Let the court of public opinion be the final judge in this barefaced and shameless attempt at covering up the findings of the commission of enquiry into the collapse of the financial sector.

Audley Shaw, CD, MP, is the shadow minister for finance, planning and the public service.