…Parliament raps SN for fake article

THE housing allowance for Government ministers was never increased to $500, 000 per month, Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs said as he rubbished a Stabroek

News article deeming it a deliberate act.
In its lead story on Tuesday June 27, 2017, under the headline, “Cap on ministers’ housing allowance was increased to $500, 000 in 2015,” Stabroek News reported that the allowance was increased from $25, 000 per month to $500,000 under the government in 2015. In the article, attribution was made to the Clerk of the National Assembly, but on Tuesday Isaacs told the Guyana Chronicle that he was misrepresented. “I never indicated that the housing allowance was increased from $25, 000 to $500,000. I never said that,” Isaacs told this newspaper.

According to him, the article was a deliberate act. “It was incorrect. I think that they did it for sensational purposes, some newspapers are like that,” he stated.
To bring clarity to the situation, the Clerk explained that according to the Handbook for Members of the National Assembly, “the Speaker, the Prime Minister, Vice-Presidents, the Attorney General and the Senior Ministers are each entitled to occupy, free of rent, a furnished residence provided by the Government or, in lieu thereof, to be paid a house allowance.”

While ministers and the leader of the opposition are not entitled to be provided with residences, they are each entitled to a house allowance. That allowance, according to the Handbook, has been set at $25, 000.
Isaacs made it clear that once the housing allowance of $25, 000 is paid to a minister, he or she is not entitled to accommodation. He said it is common practice that once there are no available housing quarters in Echilibar Villas, houses would be rented for ministers.
“Where can you find a house for $25, 000? The last administration rented, as far as I am aware, for Mrs. Sukhai, Mr. Rohee, and Mr. Robert Persaud…and a number of other ministers,” the Clerk pointed out.

No cap under PPP
It was noted that under the previous administration – the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) – there was no ceiling for the rental of houses for Government ministers. At the time, these payments were issued by the Office of the President, now renamed Ministry of the Presidency.

However, Isaacs said when the decision was taken, under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration, to have the Parliament Office pay the housing allowances and rental fees among other payments, Finance Minister Winston Jordan advised that a ceiling be put in place for the rental of properties.
According to Isaacs, the ceiling was set at $500, 000 because the Parliament Office found is difficult to find suitable houses for less. “There was never a ceiling. During the last administration, the office of the President paid the rent, and this administration the Parliament Office pays the rent, but there was never a ceiling or a cap in place,” he emphasised

Currently, houses are being rented for two ministers, the Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes; and the Minister within the Ministry of Communities with responsibility for Housing, Valerie Adams-Patterson; both of whom reside out of Georgetown. Minister Broomes hails from Bartica, Region Seven, while Minister Adams-Patterson hails from Linden, Region 10. According to the clerk, months after signing contracts for the rental of the two properties, he was advised by the Finance Minister to reduce the ceiling to $300,000. “Minister Jordan told me to reduce it to $300, 000 some months ago. But we had already signed the contracts,” Isaacs said. Because the information was related to him verbally, he said in the near future he would return to the Finance Ministry to have further discussions on the ceiling and to have it formalised. But any changes, he maintained, will have to be done after the contracts have expired.

Fake news
Meanwhile, Minister Broomes, who was also singled out in the Stabroek News article based on an ongoing legal battle with Peter Ramsaroop, said the story is fictitious. Ramsaroop had rented one of his properties to the Parliament Office at a cost of $500, 000 to be used by Minister Broomes.

On Tuesday, Minister Broomes told the Guyana Chronicle that the article is “absolute trash.” The minister made it clear that she does not receive a housing allowance. “What I receive is accommodation from Government. There is a clear difference,” she lamented. According to her, over the last two weeks there have been attempts to tarnish her reputation but she will not be discouraged.
“I am here as a humble servant of the people of Guyana. I work with the Government, I have my own home, I have nothing special or more, or nothing less. The Government is providing housing for me which they have a responsibility for,” she said.

The minister said Guyanese must be reminded that the practice of providing housing for ministers, particularly those residing out of the capital city, is nothing new. “The PPP Government, and I don’t know how Guyanese are forgetting, they had to provide housing for their ministers. It was the same thing, in which they rented properties for their ministers. It is nothing new that this Government is doing.”
Instead of targeting her, Minister Broomes said attention should be placed on the former PPP Government officials who “squandered” and stole state resources, much to the disadvantage of the hard-working taxpayers. “I will not steal taxpayers’ money, I would not squander it, but those who have done that should be jailed! There is where the focus should be,” said Minister Broomes.