$15-m increase in advertising ‘political’, says JLP
THE National Housing Development Corporation’s (NHDC) expenditure of $6.3 million topped that of four state agencies which together spent approximately $15 million in advertising during the four months leading up to the October 16 general elections of last year, prompting Opposition charges of electioneering at taxpayers’ expense.
Prime Minister P J Patterson, in answering questions posed by Audley Shaw, Opposition spokesman on finance, told Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Representatives that the expenditure on advertising and public relations increased by more than 100 per cent during the four-month period in 2002 over the previous year.
As requested by Shaw, Patterson reported on government agencies including:
* the National Housing Trust (NHT), with expenditure at $11 million in 2002 compared with $5.5 million in 2001;
* the National Works Agency (NWA), with $2.2 million in 2002, up from $794,476 in 2001 and;
* the HEART Trust/NTA at $8.36 million in 2002 compared with $6.4 million in the previous year.
But the agency showing the most dramatic increase in advertising expenditure was the NHDC, which spent $6.34 million in the election year compared with only $68,555 in 2001– a ten-fold increase.
The NHDC implements government’s shelter programme, Operation PRIDE, which was a source of controversy last year. The controversy heightened with the resignation of Christopher Honeywell as managing director of the agency and, later, the resignation of Karl Blythe as housing minister.
The Opposition member accused the governing People’s National Party (PNP) of “using taxpayers’ money for explicitly political advertising” in the months leading up to the general elections.
Shaw asserted, for instance, that NHDC ads “carried a political tone with the slogan ‘land for the landless’, but Patterson defended the ads, saying “the provision of land for the landless has always been a priority of this government”.
The prime minister argued further that all expenditure “was in pursuance of government agencies’ objectives to inform and educate its clients and the general public about their programmes”.
He added that, in the case of the NHDC, the expenditure on advertising and PR “must be looked at in the context of the challenges facing the company during the period”.
Patterson pointed out that in April 2002, a new minister, board and managing director was put in place and given a specific mandate by the cabinet in the aftermath of sustained public opposition from several quarters to the PRIDE programme as well as the huge media focus on Operation PRIDE.
Patterson also argued that the NHDC “had to restore confidence and credibility in the operations of the organisation…and there was also the need to encourage PRIDE beneficiaries to continue paying for the benefits they had previously received”.
In the case of the NHT, Patterson said that in 2002, interest rates to loan beneficiaries were reduced from previous levels of eight to 12 per cent, to seven to 9 per cent and that this lowering of rates necessitated an expansion of the public education programme.
He added that last year, the 40th year of the celebration of independence coincided with the opening of Emancipation Park, adding that “in keeping with its corporate objectives, the Trust expanded its advertising and public relations programme to fully inform the public of this project.”