THERE is growing disquiet among politicians and public officials that the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) appears to be getting a pass, despite its two-year delay in submitting its 2014/2015 annual reports.

Some of the complainants are contemplating going public with their criticisms while others have said they would not because of fear that the OCG could target them in future. All spoke to the Jamaica Observer on condition of anonymity.

“My agency was unjustly pressured to provide our contract award report to the OCG at a time when it was clear that we were doing everything possible to comply with the requests,” said the executive director of one state agency that was tardy.

The agency head pointed to the excuse provided by the contractor general for the reason his own agency was late in submitting its annual report to Parliament, noting that numerous agencies in similar situation received no sympathy from the OCG.

In his introductory remarks to the 2015 report, which was submitted on June 22, 2017, Contractor General Dirk Harrison gave only as explanation that: “The OCG, in the execution of its mandate, is constrained by a number of factors, which include but are not limited to, a lack of human and financial resources.”

One agency top brass said she had taken note that the civil society organisations which were always vociferous when the OCG named a state agency, had “suddenly gone quiet, now that the shoe is on the other foot”.

She cited an Observer front page article in which National Integrity Action director, Dr Trevor Munroe had taken on the OCG’s report on the $600- million de-bushing scandal, but had said noting about the tardiness of the OCG, describing it as a “double standard”.

The vice-president of a statutory body recalled that the former head of the OCG, Greg Christie had boasted about getting 100 per cent of public bodies to submit reports on time, up from a previous compliance rate of 13 per cent.

His reference was to a recent article in which Christie lashed the director of public prosecutions and said, among other things: “The learned DPP has alluded to the high level of compliance that is currently being enjoyed by the OCG, in the form of Jamaica public bodies submitting their quarterly contract award (QCA) reports to the OCG.

“The DPP’s allusion is ironic as the requirement…was introduced by me, effective July 2006. At the outset, the compliance rate among the country’s then almost 200 public bodies was a mere 13 per cent. In an effort to secure a 100 per cent compliance rate in the submission of the QCA reports by public bodies, I met, in late 2006, with the then DPP, Mr Kent Pantry.

I advised DPP Pantry that I would be introducing a zero- tolerance policy which would see the automatic referral to him, for criminal prosecution, of the head of any Jamaica public body that failed to file its QCA report on time, effective with the QCA reports that were due for the last quarter of 2006. DPP Pantry, unhesitantly, committed his full support to me and my office.

“The result of this measure, which was fully backed by DPP Pantry, brought about a dramatic change in public body compliance in Jamaica, such that when I demitted office in November 2012, the OCG had enjoyed 13 consecutive quarters of 100 per cent compliance from the country’s 200 public bodies, up from a rate of 13 per cent in 2006.”

He quoted Christie as saying: “…It is an incontrovertible fact that the criminal laws of Jamaica will continue to be broken, wantonly and with impunity, unless and until those who are responsible for enforcing the law do just that.

“The OCG’s experience also demonstrates that there is no such thing as 100 per cent voluntary compliance with any law. There will always be transgressors who must be forced into compliance. And the way to do that is to send a strong, unequivocal, and unmistakable signal that no matter who you are, what your station in life is, or how minor your transgressions may be, if you violate the criminal laws of our country, you will pay. That was the signal which was sent by the OCG’s zero-tolerance policy”.

One politician said the OCG’s zero-tolerance policy must be applied across the board if it was to have any credibility whatsoever. “Right now, it is not worth the paper on which it is written.”

A second politician, who was given less than a week to provide information requested by the OCG, said it could only be considered fair if the same standards were applied to everyone, including the OCG.

“It cannot be a case of do as I say, but not as I do,” or “one rule for the goose and another for the gander,” he told the Observer. “I am willing to face the music but if I am to be labeled a criminal for missing a deadline, so should the head of the OCG. Some sort of sanction is necessary.”

Greg Christie; Trevor Munroe