KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Karl Samuda in a release a short while ago sought to shed light on the dismissal of the Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Dairy Development Board Hugh Graham, whose services were terminated last Friday.

Samuda’s response comes on the heels of a revelation made by Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture, Dr Dayton Campbell in the House of Representatives on Tuesday that Graham was fired under questionable circumstances.The spotlight has since been placed on the ministry after claims by Campbell that Graham was sacked in light of a saga over the importation of powdered milk.The minister in the release said “I do not hire nor do I fire CEOs. The Board of the JDDB in their wisdom and on the basis of their assessment of the CEO’s tenure opted not to renew his employment arrangement”.See the minister’s full statement below:The Jamaica dairy industry was almost decimated in the 1990s as a result of the liberalization of milk powder imports at that time.This impact of the policy was so devastating that it reduced local milk production from 39M litres of milk and 14,000 breeding animals to a current annual production of some 12M litres, 7,000 breeding animals and led to the attrition of nearly 500 farmers from the sector.With a daily per capita consumption of 105 millilitres, Jamaica is currently only achieving a half of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended daily minimum requirement.The fact is we do not currently produce enough milk. Against this background, there is no real issue about totally banning the import of milk at this time.The Ministry, through the efforts of the Jamaica Dairy Development Board (JDDB) has been consistently supporting all efforts to re-build the sector and increase local production.However, despite all efforts, no appreciable increase in production has been realised to date, as a result of a range of factors.As indicated in my Budget presentation to Parliament, I fully endorse the efforts of Serge Island, for example, to increase local milk production but, it is really not expected that these initiatives will realise Jamaica’s goal of 100% self-sufficiency in the foreseeable future.• Total volume of product requested was 6,417 MT• Licenses granted up the date of request by Wisynco was 3,425MT representing 53%• Request made by Wisynco was amounted to 100MT or approximately 3% of the unutilized balanceThe regulatory arrangements for the approval of milk import licence are as follows:The Trade Board receives the application from the importing entity for a licence to import.The approval of the licence is however, subject to approval from the Jamaica Dairy Development Board (JDDB) and the receipt of an import permit from the Veterinary Services Division (VSD).In the specific instance of the application for an import licence by WISYNCO Ltd. I wish to note that this matter has been on-going prior to my appointment to office as Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries.As I understand it the sequence is as follows:September 14, 2015 – WISYNCO wrote to the Dairy Board for consideration of an import licence for 100metric tonnes of milk powder.January 13 2016 – an online application for an import permit was made to the VSDMarch 8, 2016 – an application for import submitted to the Trade BoardMarch 23, 2016 – The Dairy Board rejected the applicationBy way of letter of October 26, 2016, Myers Fletcher and Gordon, acting on behalf of WISYNCO, wrote to the Minister expressing their concern with regard to the refusal of the application for the permit and requested a meeting.I sought relevant data to get a better understanding of the basis for the refusal.On that basis, I could not justify any reasonable objection to their request for a licence since this amount would in no way impact local production.I therefore convened a meeting on January 18, 2017 where these facts were reiterated.I also got a better understanding of the plans by WISYNCO to embark on dairy production I Jamaica. The consensus of the meeting was that in light of the data, permits would be released for the miniscule quantity of milk powder to be imported, subject only to import being from approved sources.My intervention at this point is pursuant to Section 6 of the JDDB Act which provides that the Minister may, after consultation with the chairman, give to the Board such directions of a general character as to the policy to be followed by the Board in the performance of its functions as appears to the Minister to be necessary in the public interest and the Bard shall give effect thereto.WISYNCO subsequently re-submitted its application to the JDDB, which again rejected that application vide letter dated March 9 2017.Interestingly, the Board of the JDDB had no knowledge of this letter even though based on the Act, it is the Board and not the CEO who has the power to recommend the issuing of licences. The CEO was therefore acting unilaterally.This refusal triggered a formal appeal by WISYNCO via a letter from their lawyers, dated April 4, 2017 and pursuant to Section 27 of the JDDB Act.In fact, it was around this time, that without the knowledge and consent of the Board that the CEO used Government resources to employ a private lawyer to advise him on this matter, thus bypassing the services of the five lawyers employed to the Ministry and the entire Attorney Generals Depart who were at his disposal.Furthermore, this was done although the Ministry’s lawyer attempted to clarify his grounds for his refusal of the application, in order to prepare adequate and proper instructions to advise the Attorney General.It is clear, therefore, that the CEO had no intention to facilitate the importation of this comparatively modest quantity of milk powder, having dragged out the matter for well over a year and seeking to bypass the Board, the AGD and the Ministry’s lawyers so as to have his own way in refusing a licence that was legitimate and reasonable and would in no way impair local production.The matter of the applicant importing the milk powder from Colombia is a non-issue, since it was clearly established from the January 18 2017 meeting that the 100metric tonnes of milk powder was not an issue, provided it was from an approved source.The fact is that the Dairy Board’s role is not to deal with phytosanitary issues. That is the role of the VSD. The Dairy Board is to deal with matters of production and supply.Yet, the former CEO took upon himself the role of interfering with phytosanitary matters, even going to the extent of demanding that the VSD refer all matters of the issuing of permits to his office and even attempting to inspect the records of the VSD.As minister, I do not hire nor do I fire CEOs. The Board of the JDDB in their wisdom and on the basis of their assessment of the CEO’s tenure opted not to renew his employment arrangement.