OPPOSITION Senator Professor Floyd Morris is calling for the immediate resignation of chairman of the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) and Urban Development Corporation (UDC) Norman Brown, following an Integrity Commission (IC) investigation which uncovered building breaches at a development being undertaken by Estatebridge Holdings Limited of which Brown is a director.

In its latest investigation report tabled in Parliament last Tuesday, the IC said it found that the residential development at 2 Weycliffe Close in Beverly Hills, St Andrew, which is still under construction, is being constructed contrary to the terms of the planning approval and building permit issued by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) on July 12, 2021. The commission said its director of investigation’s conclusion is premised on the fact that, at the time of his first inspection, the development consisted of four four-bedroom townhouses instead of four two-bedroom townhouses, as approved by the KSAMC.

The commission also said that it came to the conclusion that the breaches were deliberate, because Brown had knowledge prior to December 4, 2023, when he gave a statement to the IC, that the development consisted of four four-bedroom townhouses.

Last Friday, Morris argued in the Upper House that similar breaches were uncovered by the IC at another residential development owned by National Water Commission President Mark Barnett and his wife Annette Francis Barnett at 11 Charlemont Drive, Kingston 6.

Morris claimed that Barnett was required to “resign from his job”, and so should Brown.

“This report about Estatebridge has been tabled in the Parliament from Tuesday of this [last] week and…up to this point I have not heard anybody talking about or calling for the resignation of the chairman of UDC and HAJ, which is involved in this breach. It is a clear hypocrisy and a double standard, and I want to take this opportunity to say to chairman of the UDC and the HAJ that he must resign immediately, just like what was required by Mark Barnett…It cannot be that you are setting one set of rules for one individual or one set of individuals,” he argued.

However, at this juncture, Government Senator Ransford Braham pointed out that Morris’ statement that Barnett had resigned was incorrect.

Another Government senator, Delroy Williams, on a point of order, also cautioned Morris about the statement he made about the Charlemont Drive development having more rooms being built than were approved.

“I would ask the senator to check that because I’m not sure that is true…I am not sure more rooms were built than were approved,” he said.

But Morris stated that he was speaking to the reports that have been tabled in the Parliament and that he stands by what has been said.

Senate President Tom Tavares-Finson interjected to explain that Williams was saying that while the report in Parliament is stating that there is a breach of the permit in terms of the number of rooms, “what he is, in fact, saying is that the directors have indicated that there is no such breach”.

“Well, I’m speaking to the report… I think [Williams] is trying to protect himself because he was the mayor at the time when the breaches were [made],” Morris retorted.

However, Morris repeated his call for Brown to resign as UDC and HAJ chairman immediately.

“It is a disgrace!” he said.

“If we are going to win back the trust and the confidence of the Jamaican people, people have to be held accountable for their actions, and this is one means. This should be the start and we must stop hug up and embrace these corrupt practices because once we do it we are ourselves engaging in a corrupt practice,” he said.

TAVARES-FINSON… the directors have indicated that there is no such breach