KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Daryl Vaz, has put in place new directors of boards to oversee the operations of the various entities that fall under the ministry.

“The board appointments that I have made are based on probity and performance and integrity and honesty, because the fact is, that is what the country expects and demands,” he said, while making the announcement during a virtual press conference today.

He noted that Cabinet “has approved and appointed the full slate of boards” for the Petrojam Ethanol Limited, which will be chaired by Kevin Richards; Jamaica Aircraft Refuelling Services Limited, for which Lennox Elvey has been appointed chairman; and the man put in charge to wind up the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica is Richard Fonseca from the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology.

In addition, Spectrum Management Authority Limited will be chaired by Edward Gabbidon, and Camille Facey will serve as deputy chair; the Postal Corporation of Jamaica Limited will have Professor Felix Akinladejo as its chairman and Rochelle Cameron as deputy chair; and Metry Seaga will serve as chairman of E-Learning Jamaica Company Limited, while Deborah Newland will serve as deputy chair.

Also, the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited minority shareholder’s chairman is Danville Walker, who will serve along with Dennis Morgan as the other appointed government director; E-Gov Jamaica Limited will be chaired by Dr Gunjan Mansingh and Jacqueline Sharp will be deputy chair; the Universal Service Fund’s new chairman is Justin Morin, and serving as deputy chair is Maurice Barnes; Wayne Chen is now the chairman of Petrojam Limited, and Metry Seaga deputy chair; and Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee will chair the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Science and the Scientific Research Council.

Vaz stressed that it is “fundamentally important” that as the Government pursues interventions to scale up economic recovery, transparency and trust must guide its actions.

“We are signalling our commitment to those principles from the get-go. That is why we have assembled some of the brightest and best minds in the country to provide leadership at the board level for the entities that fall under my ministry,” he said.

He opined that Jamaicans can feel proud that competent people have been selected to carry out the business of the agencies under the ministry.

“Visionary leadership of these entities is important as the country faces a race for the economic recovery and the gamut task of strategically repositioning the economy for a post-pandemic era,” he said.