Housing ‘one of the most corrupt institutions’ under ULP

Minister of Housing Andrew John says that a review of the ministry shows that it was “one of the most corrupt institutions” in St. Vincent and the Grenadines under the Unity Labour Party government, which was booted out of office on Nov. 27.

“… we have a lot of issues in housing,” John, who was elected for the first time as a parliamentary representative in the November vote, told Parliament on Thursday as he debated the 2006 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.

“… I hear the cry of the persons on the other side … for the increase in the allocation for housing,” he said, referring to the three opposition lawmakers – Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves and his two senators.

He said the opposition MPs cries were loud, despite their small number.

“And I dare say that this allocation, though reduced, was put there based on the figures we were getting from the previous administration, considering the number of homes that they claim they had fixed.”

Parliament approved the EC$1.886 billion fiscal package, which includes an allocation for repairing houses damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Beryl, which impacted the Southern Grenadines on July 1, 2024.

“Now, they claimed that they had fixed 5,034 homes … only to realise, when we started visiting and doing assessment that numbers do lie, because nothing that you said was done there was done on inspection. Nothing!” John told Parliament.

“And you come in here arguing about who do this and who do that? Crazy man,” he further said, apparently referring to Senator Carlos James, who was MP for North Leeward in the last Parliament but was rejected by constituents after one term.

“The way that housing — well, the entire ministry was run, I think … it might have been one of the most corrupt institutions in St. Vincent,” said John, who apparently did not realise that he has indemnity for what he says in Parliament.

“The previous administration used housing as a political football,” John told lawmakers.

“That is where they tried — and I think they might have done so successfully in previous elections — but they tried in this election to manipulate that housing ministry to ensure that they won that last election. They tried. And I’m glad that the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines woke up.”

“They took the material that they spent over $6 million for and they put them in sort in strategic places, constituencies,” he said, adding that there were two such depots in North Leeward.

There was also one each in Central Leeward, North Windward, North Central Windward, South Central Windward, the Northern Grenadines and the Southern Grenadines.

“And these are in addition to the two main ones, which we have in Campden Park and Arnos Vale,” John said.

“Now I want you to note the strategy behind putting these two in North Leeward,” John said.

Earlier in the debate, James had pointed out that the Estimates allocated EC$2.1 million to the purchase of a fleet of vehicles for use by the prime minister and the repair of the Official Residence of the Prime Minister.

“You can spend $2.1 million doing that in one fiscal year, yet you talked about prudence, and the fiscal gap is widening, and then you are laying off hundreds of workers from the Ministry of Housing and have put on hold for nearly the last two months,” James said.

However, East Kingstown MP, Fitz Bramble, moved a point of order, saying that James was misleading Parliament and that the NDP government “has not laid off hundreds of workers in no department or ministry since we took office”.

He called on James to withdraw the statement.

“… the amount of workers you have laid off close — I had a question for the Honourable Minister of Housing,” James responded.

“I have a letter in my hand here from one of the employees. In fact, you misled the country because you told these employees the phase of the housing reconstruction programme will come to an end Dec. 31.

“‘Please be advised that your services as an assessor assistant under the temporary employment Beryl phase of the programme will no longer be required’,” James quoted a document sent to the workers as saying.

“I was in the previous government. We never had a temporary Beryll programme. We had hired assessors in the government.”

However, House Speaker Ronnia Durham-Balcombe ruled that James had only identified one employee.

James then said “several” employees were laid off.

As he debated the estimates, John said there was a discrepancy between the number of houses the ULP government has claimed to repaid and the actual reality.

Responding to James’ claim, John said:

“He is on fire to ask me a question about why persons were dismissed, and that was not in their administration, so but you didn’t have to ask me.

“I just come to this,” John said, holding up what he said was a July 21, 2024, Cabinet memo that hired the worker and assigned a figure to them.

“So, if you really wanted them to stay, you should have gone back to cabinet and renewed this,” John said.

“This ended. We are here with the budget now, trying to raise more money to continue the programme …” he said, adding that he would give the memo to James.

John said that it appeared that the opposition wanted to give people the impression that a government that just got an overwhelming mandate to solve they country’s problem would “just callously dismiss people like what they did”.

John noted that he worked in trade unionism and was part of the delegation that had gone to the ULP administration to “asking them please not to dismiss workers of this country” under the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

“I worked as a union leader at the time – 2021. And we begged, we cajole, we asked that we consider the plight…” John said, adding that the ULP government dismissed over 500 workers.

“And they come in here to argue for people who they temporarily [hired],” John said.

However, James rose on a point of order, saying that while John “is new to this”, he could not mislead Parliament.

“And you’re misrepresenting the facts,” James said. “Firstly, you indicated that the previous administration claimed that they rebuilt 5,000 houses?

“I am sure the numbers will show that’s a misleading statement,” James said.

He told Parliament that the ULP government had always stated, from the eruption of the La Soufriere in April 2021 to when it was voted out of office, the number of houses it had repaired or rebuilt “will amount to that figure … And you can do your research on that.”

John thanked James for his comment, adding, “Let me clarify that.”

He then read from a government document that said, “The ministry completed a total of 2,125 roof repairs; 2,259 people participated in self-help initiatives.”

“I think that they were talking about repairs,” John commented, quoting the document as saying there were “650 projects are ongoing, totalling 5,034 houses”.

“That is something different to what I said?” John asked James, who responded, “What programme is that.”

“That’s something different to what I said?” John said again, as James again asked what programme the minister was referring to.

“When we have the questioning session, we will take those questions. We will take those questions when they come,” John said.

“So, this is what was presented from the previous administration. But the point of the matter is, Senator, and I want us to ‘gree, because everybody are friends in here.

“We are on the business of our country. WE not here to fight no war, or to thing. We’re stating just the facts. So, if I didn’t state the fact there, I’m clarifying them for you, right? No problem with that.

“The problem is with the manner in which we govern,” he said and went on to speak about the manner in which the ULP government operated the programme.

He said he was told that he could display photographs during the budget debate, which commences on Feb. 9.

“And you tell me if these houses, of which I speak…  any person, have any right to be living in them,” John said.