JAS President Lenworth Fulton - file photo
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Lenworth Fulton
The Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) is facing financial challenges with the organisation owing $24 million to contractors who provided services during the last two Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food shows.
JAS President Lenworth Fulton has blamed mismanagement for the financial challenges.
He claims that the financial mismanagement dates back to six years ago with debts of about $12 million for 2017 and about $11 million for 2018.
"The organisation was left in a cashless state when I took over. As a matter of fact, the period between July 11 when I won the election and September 5th when I took over, $17 million was spent on construction and on buildings that the parish council did not approve, and those buildings are in an incomplete state so we can't earn from them," Mr. Fulton disclosed.
In addition, he said, adding to the companies losses is the fact that some contractors were not given approval by the JAS Chief Executive Officer to provide services on behalf of the entity.
"I know the situation. I'm recognising that we owe some persons but we have to try and earn some money to pay them. There's no way we can pay them right now," the JAS president lamented.
He said there will be sweeping changes as part of plans to improve the management of the organisation. Among these changes, he said the JAS will become a non-political NGO (non-governmental organisation). It will also develop a foundation to manage the society's charitable functions.
The JAS, which is an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, serves as an umbrella organisation for various commodity boards and associations.
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