PNP reiterates call for investigation into St Ann’s Bay mayor
KINGSTON, Jamaica— People’s National Party (PNP) spokesperson on local government, Natalie Neita, is reiterating calls for an investigation into the construction of a charging port for Mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Councillor Michael Belnavis’s personal vehicle.
In a statement today, Neita said Belnavis’s behaviour during a press conference yesterday is “unbecoming and should never come from any officeholder who has taken an oath to serve the people of Jamaica”.
“The display of ranting and raving at the press conference by Councillor Belnavis will not exempt him from the oversight mechanisms of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), the Auditor General and the National Integrity Commission (NIC), and he must submit himself as anyone else in public life,” she added.
The Opposition spokesperson called for the mayor’s impeachment over what she said was the “outrageous way in which the resources of the municipality were treated”.
“The $46 million sanitisation of Ocho Rios project and the unauthorised construction of a charging port for his personal Porsche motor vehicle are questionable expenditures, which require further scrutiny,” she said.
Neita said a full investigation of both contracts is necessary, “particularly at a time when the majority of Jamaica was suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The spokesperson said she specifically wanted an investigation by the National Integrity Commission into the award of the $46.6 million cleaning contract and how a privately owned plaza was included in the sanitisation contract at a sum of over $7.5 million.
Neita expressed her disappointed at Belnavis’s behaviour since the information was brought to light. She noted that it was a PNP Government, which promoted Local Government Reform and passed the Local Governance Act of 2016.
“As a Cabinet minister, I am fully aware of all its provisions in general, and those of Section(18) in particular, which sets out the steps for impeachment and removal for elected official for gross misconduct in office,” she said.
