AN ambulance intended for donation to the rural community of Lamb’s River, Westmoreland, was auctioned by Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) after a prolonged series of communication and delays between several government agencies and the donor.

The donor, Carol Clarke, a member of Praise Cathedral Worship Centre Church of God in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, told the Jamaica Observer that the ambulance, a 2007 Chevrolet valued at CAD$20,000 was given to her for CAD$0 by the City of Toronto/Government of Ontario to be donated to a charitable organisation.

Clarke said, as such, she donated the ambulance to her church, and through the institution, started making provisions to have it sent to Jamaica.

According to Clarke, she was motivated to get the ambulance to Jamaica because of what transpired with her family in 2018.

“My sister died on her way to the hospital without oxygen in a taxi. There was no ambulance. [But] my life was spared in 1967 because of the ambulance in Lamb’s River. Now there’s no ambulance in Lamb’s River; since the 1990s they downgraded the clinic and took away the ambulance.

“My motivation was so strong to get an ambulance back in Lamb’s River. So I managed to get this ambulance and bumped other people in line to get it. The city also helped me to get the dealer of the ambulance to get it in mint condition. It was retrofitted with new tyres, brand-new fixtures ready for Jamaica,” Clarke said.

In preparation to get the ambulance to Jamaica, Clarke said she called the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) prior to shipping to ascertain the process for getting the vehicle to Jamaica.

Clarke said she had the ambulance from April 2018, and in August 2018, she was contacted by Courtney Cephas, executive director of philanthropic mobilisation at MOHW, who told her that he would get back to her as an evaluation and determination of the vehicle had to be done before the start of any shipping arrangements. After two months of waiting, Clarke went ahead and shipped the ambulance.

That was the beginning of her troubles.

She told the Sunday Observer that when Cephas contacted her he requested that the consignment be changed from the MOHW to her name — Carol Clarke — which would make it easier to clear the ambulance.

Further, Clarke said she obtained a Ministry of Finance waiver and MOHW acceptance letter for the ambulance, but was unable to clear the vehicle and incurred several costs.

“We have invested our time and our finances in this ambulance. The bill of lading shows the demurrage cost of US$3,096 or CAD$4,085 due to the duration of time at the Jamaica wharf. Additional costs include shipping and name change CAD$6,500; maintenance and new tyres CAD$8,000. We also paid a Jamaican broker $50,000 for the clearing of the ambulance. At the time the conversion rate was $95 to CAD$1. The broker did nothing to help. In total, the cost incurred to get the ambulance to Jamaica was CAD$19,111.00,” she said.

Despite all that, Clarke said she still met roadblocks and could not get the ambulance cleared, which resulted in it being auctioned by Jamaica Customs Agency in November 2021.

Clarke contends that she was given misinformation by Cephas, which landed her in this predicament.

But when the Sunday Observer contacted Cephas he provided e-mail documentation showcasing all communication between him and Clarke regarding his advice to her.

Cephas said, despite the evaluation from MOHW rejecting the donation, he called in favours on Clarke’s behalf to the Western Regional Authority and Trade Board so the ambulance would be accepted.

Cephas said: “Now, from our initial contact to date of this e-mail we (Cephas/Clarke) have had an inordinate amount of communication exchanges to include phone calls and e-mails. Excluding phone calls, we had a total of 38 e-mails between us, of which 15 were sent by Clarke and 23 sent by me. A review of the communications will show that much of my correspondence provided key information, clarity on matters, actions to be taken, and status updates.”

The summary of e-mail correspondence between Clarke and Cephas, provided by Cephas, is:

(1) August 2, 2018 — Carol Clarke first indicated intention to donate a 2007 ambulance to Lamb’s River Health Centre. Communication made to Member of Parliament Luther Buchanan of Westmoreland and Consul General Lloyd Wilks of Canada.

(2) August 10, 2018 — Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Diaspora Affairs Department, notifies the MOHW, Health for Life, and Wellness Foundation of Clarke’s donation intention.

(3) August 29 and 31, 2018 — Courtney Cephas sent an e-mail to Carole Clarke requesting information about the vehicle for evaluation by MOHW Transportation Unit and Emergency Disaster Management and Special Services. E-mail included a bold statement which read: “Please note it is important for the proper evaluation and determination of the vehicle be done before commencement of any shipping arrangements.”

(4) September 14, 2018 — With limited vehicle information an initial vehicle evaluation request was submitted to MOHW Transport Unit. Preliminary verbal indication (Holmes/Cephas) was that the vehicle did not meet requirements based on age, cost of ownership, parts availability.

(5) October 31, 2018 — Carole Clarke e-mailed vehicle information to facilitate vehicle evaluation for accept/deny decision by MOH Transportation Unit and Emergency Disaster Management and Special Services.

(6) November 20, 2018 — Carole Clarke in telephone conversation indicated that shipment was made contrary to expectation, given the MOH evaluation process was not yet completed.

(7) November 20, 2018 — Under the circumstances, Courtney Cephas made a request of MOH Transport Unit to give favourable discretionary approval to accept the vehicle. Approval was given.

(8) November 21, 2018 — Under the circumstance, Courtney Cephas made a request of Emergency Disaster Management and Special Services to give favourable discretionary approval to accept the vehicle. Approval was given.

(9) November 21, 2018 — Carole Clarke sent an e-mail advising of shipment and expected arrival in Jamaica November 28 despite communication above: “Please note it is important for the proper evaluation and determination of the vehicle be done before commencement of any shipping arrangements.”

(10) December 24, 2018 — Courtney Cephas communicated status update and critical requisite actions to be taken by Carole Clarke to include obtaining a tax registration number (TRN) to facilitate application for import licence. Cephas discretionarily offered to facilitate getting TRN for Carole Clarke and requested requisite action/documents from Carole Clarke.

(11) January 3 and 7, 2019 — Cephas made two trips to Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) to apply for TRN, but was unsuccessful due to improper documentation relating first to notarisation and second to detection of tampering (white-out).

(12) January 18, 2019 — Clarke e-mailed Cephas saying she received another e-mail from the freight-forwarding company in Canada regarding the status of the ambulance as it was at the stage of being deemed abandoned.

(13) January 21, 2019 — TRN successfully obtained by Cephas on third trip to TAJ. Cephas also responds to Clarke indicating he reached out to the MOHW customs contact and was awaiting advice on any option to have the shipment moved to a lower cost storage and/or prevented from being deemed abandoned. Cephas also advised Clarke to take the necessary action to apply for the Trade Board licence as indicated in previous e-mail, and pointed her to the TRN letter to aid the process.

(14) January 23, 2019 — Cephas communicated to Carole Clarke all outstanding actions that must be taken by her to advance the clearance process to include amendments to reflect the name Carole Clarke on: (1) bill of lading, (2) invoice, (3) vehicle title (4) application for an import licence. These actions are necessary, given that the Ministry of Finance Waiver of Tax is in the name of Carole Clarke.

(15) January 24, 2019 — Clarke responded to Cephas saying the requests were unethical and illegal for her in Canada as the ambulance, which was the possession of the Local Government of Canada, when donated for $0, can only be donated to a charitable organisation, not to a person. She said if the vehicle title was changed she would have to pay the City of Toronto for the ambulance which would be over CAD$20,000, plus all charges to the Ministry of Transportation for the ownership, plus charges for the export licence, all of which was done for CAD$0.

(16) January 31, 2019 — Cephas responds to Clarke reiterating that since the ambulance landed in Jamaica November 28, 2019 it had not undergone the customs clearance process and the protracted delay being experienced with the clearance process ensued from:

(a) the shipment to Jamaica of the ambulance prior to receiving requisite acceptance and approval from the Ministry of Health;

(b) breach of customs policy in shipping/landing in Jamaica a vehicle prior to obtaining an import licence;

(c) improper documentation of requisite documents for customs to facilitate the clearance process;

(d) the delays in taking the necessary actions to address the aforementioned items 2 and 3.

(17) May 22, 2019 — Cephas receives an e-mail from Clarke indicating that her bishop and herself would be in Kingston on May 28, 2019 to clear the ambulance and wanted an official ceremony of handover involving Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton on May 29, 2019.

Cephas said, to date, the MOHW is not in receipt of any communications that the aforementioned actions required by Clarke were taken or completed.

Moreover, the ambulance was auctioned in November by JCA and now Clarke is demanding that the ambulance be recovered as she has a signed agreement with the Government of Ontario that the ambulance would not be for sale, otherwise, she would have had to pay the full sum of the fair market value for the vehicle.

Meanwhile, a Sunday Observer customs agency source said after 14 days goods are deemed to be overtime and sent to JCA’s Queen’s Warehouse where an auction list is prepared. Though that is the procedure, the source said the norm is to wait for between 30 days and three months before sending the goods to the warehouse.

Nevertheless, the customs agent said owners or importers are informed when their goods are going to be auctioned and they have up to 24 hours before the auction to retrieve the item(s).

The customs agent said all sales in an auction are final and classified as “where is, as is”, meaning there is no warranty, return, or exchange of goods.