A recent expose on the June filings of international marketing company, Finn Partners, has revealed that Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith is the principal of the entity she hired for her failed commonwealth secretary bid. The entity allegedly received more than 15 million dollars of the overall $18.2 million reportedly spent from taxpayers’ money.
From the time it was revealed locally that the Senator in her quest to unseat the incumbent Baroness Patricia Scotland hired an international marketing firm to conduct her media affairs many brows were raised. Journalists questioned the rationale for the move behind Senator Johnson Smith’s choice of Finn Partners. But it was only recently disclosed that a June 6 filing by Finn Partners Inc with the United States Justice Department under the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) named the Senator as the client herself and not corporate Jamaica as was initially reported.
It highlighted that the Minister hired the company in April to among other things provide media relations and content strategy and development for her bid. This at a reported cost of 99 thousand US Dollars or just over 15 million Jamaican dollars. That would leave just over 3 million dollars for the plethora of expenses outlined by the office of the Prime Minister, which reported the campaign cost taxpayers 18.2 million Jamaican dollars.
CVM’s International Affairs Contributor and former Ambassador to the United Nations, Curtis Ward, who broke the story says this development has raised significant concerns. More details in the report:
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