– threatens legal  action
MINISTER of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali has outrightly denounced the sensational front page story in the Kaieteur News, captioned ‘After two years as Minister…Irfaan Ali builds mansion with pool house’, dated January 1, 2012. In his response, Minister Ali pointed out that the “wicked, devious and sensational” report by the Kaieteur News is nothing more than a personal attack which has now left him and his family exposed to security and other threats.
It is on this basis, Ali noted, that his lawyers would now look at the consequences of this personal invasion based on sheer “lies and mischief.”
He said: “When someone builds a house it is meant to be their home, a personal sanctuary where they feel secured and private. It is clear that the motive of Kaieteur News was to mislead and expose myself and family to security and other harm. Though the very essence of peace and security that my personal property was supposed to have offered me is destroyed, I will leave my faith in the hands of my lawyers and the judicial system so that justice can be done.”
The basis of the report brings into question the construction of the minister’s home, dubbed a “mansion”, situated at Leonora, on the West Coast Demerara. Minister Ali however emphasised  that  the property in question was acquired before he  assumed office as a minister of the Government.
“It has been almost four years now since I have been working on this property. Fours years, not two years…the house referred to as mansion house was an old wooden house owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). After acquisition, it is the same property that was rehabilitated and retro-fitted. More than 70% of the house remained the same material and style that was there on acquisition,” he highlighted.
He maintained that the only completely new construction was that referred to as ‘the pool house’.
As to the allegation which suggests that the purchase of the property was done in an “unscrupulous manner”, Minister Ali said: “The acquisition was no secret deal or unscrupulous.  The facts are that this property was publicly advertised for sale before I became a minister. As any other Guyanese I placed a bid for the property and mine was the highest bid price offered. So what is secret and unscrupulous about this?”
Continuing, the Housing and Water Minister further proved the information contained in the Kaieteur News article was erroneous, as he highlighted that the property in question consists of three bedrooms not eight, as stated in the article.
In rebutting the mischievous report in the Kaieteur News, Minister Ali continued: “Worst of all, the fence which is chainlink and Wallaba on the side and back, and concrete with grill work on the front is what is estimated at $50 million… this has to be the most unethical, unprofessional piece of journalism in Guyana.”