Mark Wignall | Dr Tufton, surely there is more

The Gleaner of October 8 spelled it out clearly: “IC: Tufton’s ‘indirect’ influence led to $80m in contracts to friend’s firm.”

According to The Director of Investigation one would conclude that there is evidence to support a finding that “... the actions of Dr Christopher Tufton gave rise to, at its lowest, a perceived conflict of interest and thereby contravened the principles of transparency and good governance.”

At its simplest it goes like this. Health and Wellness Minister Dr Chris Tufton is a bit of a ‘health nut.’ And I mean that in a good way. Non Communicable Diseases is a well known scourge of the general population. Since 2017 Dr Tufton brought about Jamaica Moves encompassing eating and drinking wise while adopting physical activity. Quite probably Tufton saw this flagship programme as his legacy in the Health ministry, in the process becoming the living embodiment of what a Health minister ought to be.

It also turned out that the minister had a lady friend in the PR business. Her outfit was called Market Me. And, $80 million was paid out to her company, representing work done via Health ministry contracts.

We are told that the minister had not previously reported on the friendship between the two. Now that it has been fully declared and $80 million of the people’s money is involved, it is useful to ask if the friendship was loosely along the lines of a wink and a nod or, did it take on strains of poetry, a waltz and the bubbly of pink champagne?

If it could be said that one factor involving quality of the friendship impelled the other, that of generation of contracts, work and payouts, then that declaration is useful and probably merited further probing.

In his first attempt at a cogent response Tufton said, “The commission’s findings have helped to clarify the facts and put to rest years of speculation, allowing the public to have a clear and accurate understanding of the matter.”

Dr Tufton, you are so right. The public certainly has a clear and accurate understanding of the matter where you must have given a wink and a nod but moved the meter on the contracts.

Eighty Million dollars, 15 contracts and an undeclared friendship. Question. Did the minister suspect that too much scrutiny would frustrate the efforts that he thought were lawful and directly connected to the success of his flagship programme had he declared the friendship? So, he allowed it to slip?

The Gleaner stated, ‘Market Me Consulting Limited says the Integrity Commission’s report on contracts it received from the Ministry of Health and Wellness affirms its “integrity” and “professionalism”.’ But of course that would be said, I have no doubt that Market Me is good at what they do. And I am sure that minister Tufton is convinced that it was not the presence of Market Me which brought about the contracts. It was, quite the other way around, with both entities interacting with similar commonalities and the same objectives. True, minister?

WHO ELSE IS ON THE IC LIST?

The last few years occupied much of our time keeping track of the various reports detailing only little but filling our minds with binders of speculation. As the one involving the Health ministry was released, many of us would naturally pounce and pore over the details, hoping to find, er, something.

Again, in its simplest form, we did not get, in an executive summary the likes of ‘... the Director of Investigation has concluded that Minister Tufton turned his back in the times when he could have exerted influence on the awarding of the 15 contracts worth $80 million. He saw nothing.’

In which case we would have heard the minister saying, ‘Really, where did this unsolicited proposal come from? Gee, it jives with much of my own ideas. Isn’t that something?’

Jamaica is a small place. Someone like Dr Chris Tufton with a cabinet position and years in politics would know many of those in the PR field including the lady who has only been his friend recently and not during the times when her company was getting 15 contracts worth $80 million.

A retired university lecturer who finds fault with Tufton’s response to the report said to me last Wednesday, “I would have preferred if he adopted even just a little contrition. The report pointed out his influence, and I would classify, not too much of it as, indirect.”

Maybe, there is contrition in this, from The Gleaner, “... the ministry said it recognised the recommendations of the IC and the need to strengthen its procurement processes to ensure greater levels of transparency in order to mitigate the perceptions as defined in the report.”

Another reader, a radiologist, who was probably in the mood to vent told me that in Tufton’s ministerial performance, “He is more myth than authenticity. And, maybe the minister was smarter than many of us. The real problems at the ministry is a long standing one. The large unit known as the Ministry of Health and Wellness is vastly under-resourced and cannot serve the huge numbers of poor people flocking to public health centres on a daily basis.

“The minister knows that and, the Jamaica Moves campaign, good as it is in terms of a worthwhile, long term policy, provides in some elements of the design, good cover for many of the failings of the public health centres islandwide.”

Minister, an ultrasound costs somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000 at private facilities. The ‘cost’ at a public health facility is, ‘Sir, you will have to come back in May 2026.’

If one has the cash or insurance Jamaica will move for you. If not, it is best you limp off and allow your broken body to bear the pain until mid 2026.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.