Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Cavel Stewart, coordinator of yesterday's meeting of the Association of FINSAC'd Entrepreneurs, holds a sample of a notice that will be posted at properties to be sold that are owned by victims of the financial sector meltdown. More than 60 persons turned out to the meeting held at Stella Maris Auditorium in St Andrew.

Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter

The Association of FINSAC'd Entrepreneurs (AFE) said yesterday that they should be allowed to name a member of the proposed commission of enquiry that was announced by the Government to examine the collapse of the financial sector in the 1990s.

During a meeting held at Stella Maris Auditorium in St Andrew, AFE members recounted their nightmarish experience of being a victim of the financial meltdown, charging that their human rights were violated.

"One of the suggestions we are making today is that we are allowed to recommend at least one member of the commission of enquiry," said Cavel Stewart, coordinator of the meeting, to a round of applause from members in attendance.

List of suggestions

He said the recommendation for membership on the commission would be among a list of suggestions to be put to the Government as a way forward for the victims of FINSAC.

FINSAC was the special vehicle used by the previous administration to rehabilitate financial institutions that suffered from a mismatch of assets and liabilities in the mid-1990s. Some of the affected institutions - banks and insurance companies - were bailed out or capitalised by the State, while others were merged or ceased operating.

The AFE also called on Prime Minister Bruce Golding and his government to instantaneously disband the debt-collection agency, Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation (JRF), whose ownership is based in the United States.

The AFE members want the portfolio for the management of assets by debtors to be transferred instead to a bank such as the National Investment Bank of Jamaica.

"We are urging the Government to immediately terminate this arrangement," said Neville Box, chairman of AFE. The association, which was launched exactly one month ago, has called for unity from the more than 30,000 persons who have been affected by the meltdown of the financial sector.

Currently, AFE counts more than 100 members, but it said cooperation and visibility would be key to bringing awareness to their plight.

"Why have we stayed quiet all these years?" remarked Box. "It is perhaps (because) we were too cautious or afraid to come out and speak."

T-shirts have been printed with the slogan, 'Join the cause! Save our assets! Save our country!'. Notices have been published to be posted at debtors' properties which are up for sale.