KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) is calling on the Government to disclose whether Ambassador Anthony Anderson applied for the post of chief executive officer of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) following his appointment by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

In a statement shortly after the Wednesday morning announcement, the PNP said, “This appointment raises serious questions that the Government must answer openly and without delay. In particular, the party wishes to know whether Major-General Anderson applied for this position in the ordinary course of the initial recruitment exercise.”

While noting that it expects Anderson to execute his responsibilities with the transparency, integrity and accountability that the post demands, the PNP said if he did not apply, the public deserves a full and candid explanation as to why that process failed to produce a suitable candidate.

“A recruitment exercise that yields no appointable candidate is not merely an administrative inconvenience; it is a signal that something is fundamentally wrong with the framework governing this institution,” it said.

Stressing that the PNP has consistently raised concerns about the governance deficiencies embedded in the NaRRA legislation, the party said Anderson’s appointment had done nothing to allay those concerns.

“On the contrary, it reinforces them. That the Government appears to have found it necessary to draw upon a serving ambassador to Jamaica’s most important international partner (who has only been in that post for 12 months) to fill this role, is itself instructive,” the PNP said.

“It suggests strongly that credible candidates from within the relevant professional pool were deterred by the structural and governance arrangements that this party has repeatedly flagged as inadequate.

“Appointing a loyal military/policing technocrat to lead this civilian authority, in circumstances where the recruitment process appears not to have run its proper course, is not a solution to the governance problems within NaRRA,” the statement continued.

“We call on the Government to be transparent with the Jamaican people about the full circumstances of this appointment,” the party said.

The PNP further called on the Government to bring amending legislation to address what it described as the salient governance deficiencies that continue to undermine public confidence in NaRRA, and to ensure that the institution is placed on a sound and accountable footing without further delay.