Samuda calls for Bell to remove structure at Ocho Rios Transport Centre following IC report

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Member of Parliament for St Ann North Eastern, Matthew Samuda, is calling for Councillor Ian Bell (People's National Party, Beecher Town Division) to resign from two municipal corporation committees and remove a structure erected at the Ocho Rios Transport Centre, after the Integrity Commission (IC) found he participated in deliberations on his wife's application for space at the facility. According to the IC report, the commercial operation proceeded without the required permits and with no evidence of a lease agreement. The report probed allegations of conflict of interest and irregularities surrounding the rental or lease of space at the St Ann facility and the construction of a commercial building there. Speaking at a meeting at his constituency office, Samuda said the building is not in keeping with the design for the transport centre and will have to be removed. "The first concern is that simply the development does not match the designs that are being done for the transport centre. So it is appalling that a councillor could, in breaching the process or not engaging the process, have built a structure where in building that structure we will have to have it removed because ultimately we have designs that we're working on with the Tourism Enhancement Fund and indeed the parish council for the full redesign of the Ocho Rios Transport Centre," Samuda said. While noting that the findings should not be fatal to Bell's political career, Samuda said the councillor's actions amounted to "appallingly bad judgment" and cannot go without consequence. "He cannot exist without consequence from what he described as an appallingly bad judgment," he said. Samuda said Bell should remove himself from the building and planning committee and the commercial services committee that would have directly overseen the matter, and ensure the structure is removed. "If he has a shred of decency, he should remove this structure and ensure that it is done at no cost to the government, either central or parish council, because it shouldn't have been there and it is not in line with the design approach that we're taking for redevelopment of Ocho Rios. So those are three actions we believe he must take. That is the way that this situation can be remedied," he said. READ: ALARM BELLS!