‘NO-FAIL MISSION’ - NaRRA boss dismisses favouritism claims, vows accountability

Major (Ret’d) Anthony Anderson, the newly appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), is dismissing suggestions that he was handpicked for the role and did not apply during the initial recruitment exercise. 

Anderson, in a Jamaica Information Service interview aired on Wednesday, said he applied for the position after seeing the advertised requirements and subsequently underwent a lengthy interview process. 

 “I applied based on the requirements that were published in the newspaper…I believe it was, and online. And then I was interviewed; maybe an hour and three-quarters interview, so it was quite an interesting thing. But it wasn’t that problematic for me because it's really talking about things I know,” he said. 

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness announced the appointment of  the former head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Chief of Defence Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force and National Security Advisor as the first CEO of NaRRA, as the first CEO of NaRRA. 

Holness said Anderson emerged from what he described as a “very extensive process” involving both local and international recruitment. He also stressed that he kept his distance away from the process. ? the special-purpose body intended to fast-track major infrastructure and recovery projects, in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa, on June 1. 

However, the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) had raised concerns over the appointment, inquiring whether Anderson applied during the initial recruitment drive. 

In a statement shortly after the announcement, the Party said it expects Anderson to carry out his duties with “transparency, integrity, and accountability,” but argued that the appointment raises “serious questions” that must be addressed by the Government.

The PNP said it wants to know whether Anderson applied during the initial recruitment exercise, and if not, why that process “failed to produce a suitable candidate.”

“It is a signal that something is fundamentally wrong with the framework governing this institution,” the party said in a statement, referring to reports that the initial round of recruitment did not yield an appointable candidate. 

The Opposition, along with dozens of civil society organisations and governance advocates, had from the onset, also raised concerns about the powers that NaRRA law gives to the authority and the responsible minister, including the ability to override regulatory agencies, without sufficient independent oversight. 

Acknowledging those concerns, Anderson said such reactions are expected given the fact that NaRRA is newly established, the general low levels of trusts in institutions, and the tendency of some in society to default to a negative perspective. 

“So, and that's why even things like, you know, was there a special arrangement for you? But why would there be? You understand? That's the question. Why would there be?  And why would that be necessary?  It wouldn't be necessary,” he said. 

He stated that he previously headed the engineering regimen within the JDF, and responded to two hurricanes-Ivan and Gustav, during that time. 

“As a matter of fact, between small and large projects, I had like 250 of them running at the same time-construction projects of different scales.  I worked with NHT on the inner-city housing projects, built bases, and did many things like that.  So I have a relatively strong background in construction,” he said. 

According to him, NaRRA will ultimately be judged by its impact.  

“Too much is riding on this for it to not succeed. It's a no-fail mission,” he said. 

With his appointment, and the NaRRA law in effect, he said focus will now be on building out the organisation. He said systems will be put in place to effectively automate, report on and manage projects. 

“So that the discussions around transparency, discussions around what's going on,  ideally those will disappear because it will be automated and it's a part of your systems,” he said.  

Further, he said NaRRA will operate under international best practices, using credible systems to ensure internal accountability.

“There are trusted softwares, processes, planned programs, and so on. These things are known already and are acceptable to donors, funding institutions, financing institutions, and so on. So we won't, I don't see us going far from that,” he said. 

By the end of the year, NaRRA should be “up and running”, Anderson said,

“We will have a sense or a register of our projects that are NARA projects, but the other projects that are taking place that may impact or the ones that we may be able to get synergy from by coordinating the efforts, whether it's a public-private partnership type project, an existing project in a ministry that's not under NARA, or a private sector project,” he said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com