Jamaican taxpayers forked out $18.2 million on the failed bid of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Affairs Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, to overthrow Baroness Patricia Scotland as Commonwealth Secretary General.
Overall, a combined total of $43 million was spent on both the campaign and for the Jamaican Government’s delegation that attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Kigali, Rwanda in June.
The revelation comes more than a month after Baroness Scotland defeated Johnson Smith by three votes (27 – 24 votes).
In a statement on Sunday evening, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) revealed that the costs of what is being described as the lobbying activities of the campaign amounts to $18.2 million dollars.
That sum was reportedly spent on air and ground transportation, COVID-19 tests, meals, accommodation, as well as PR and communication support activities.
The government spent a further $25.6 million dollars on the delegation that attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Kigali, Rwanda.
This cost was divided between the Office of the Prime Minister, who was responsible for $12.8 million of that amount.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism contributed to the remainder of that amount, with $7.7 million and $5.1 million respectively.
This brings the total expenditure on Johnson Smith’s campaign and the trip to Rwanda to more than $40 million dollars.
The OPM did not reveal the total size of the delegation that attended the summit.
The government said it was not a party to the engagement of FINN Partners, the international firm that provided public and media relations and thought leadership services.
The OPM claimed that engagement was undertaken by corporate Jamaica.
In a subsequent interview on Nationwide 90 FM on Monday, Jamaica’s defacto Information Minister, Robert Nesta Morgan, refused to name the Corporate entities who engaged FINN Partners in a US$99,000 (approximately J$15 million) contract.
Morgan said he did not know the names of the persons or companies who engaged the marketing firm, and said, even if he did, he could not publicly comment for confidentiality reasons.
The statement from OPM, in the meantime, said the government ran a clean, transparent and principled campaign that met the standards of accountability.
It said despite not having won, Jamaica garnered significant and widespread international support.
OPM noted that the contacts made and the opportunities to share concerns on issues of common concern served to strengthen the country’s bilateral relations and further enhance Jamaica’s reputation on the international stage.
