High on a hill, at the end of a cul-de-sac at 6 de Lima Road in Cascade, Port-of-Spain, lives former Udecott chairman Calder Hart. Reports have been circulating that Hart had returned to T&T on Friday night and was quietly whisked away from Piarco International Airport. But yesterday, his neighbours didn't seem to know about his whereabouts. One woman expressed surprise he was a "white man and not a black man." Several of them had no comment on his reported resignation from his position after documents obtained from Malaysia, by the Congress of the People, claimed that his wife Sherrine, whose birth name was Lee Soh Wah, was the sister-in-law of Ng Chin Poh, one of the directors of CH Development and Construction Ltd.
The company was awarded the $368-million contract by Udecott to construct the Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower in Port-of-Spain. Walking up the hill, there is a massive spread to the left. A statue of the Virgin Mary is partially hidden by palm fronds. Upon pressing the buzzer, a woman emerged. Quizzed on whether she knew the Harts, she said: "Yes. I see Mr and Mrs Hart driving past. I see them going in and out. Yes, the Harts are our neighbours. But I don't know much about them." When asked if she ever went across and had tea, she said: "No." Pressed about what she thought about the recent developments, she replied: "I felt sorry. I really don't want to comment. All I know is what I have been reading in the papers."
Later on, from another vantage point at the same home, a gentleman enquired about a T&T Guardian news crew in the area. The man said: "No comment. I am busy making some home-made ice cream for my children." The man said he couldn't even give a drink of water, because they didn't want to encourage the media in the area. Lower down the street, one woman expressed surprise Hart lived a stone's throw from her. "You're kidding me," she said. "I have been living here for the past 30 years. I don't know Mr Hart lives up the hill." To compound it, she expressed surprise Hart was "a white man and not a black man." "I always thought he was a black man. When I looked on TV and on the papers I saw a white man."
Clutching her chest, she added: "I always thought Hart was a black man." But she volunteered she was disgusted at the "drama going on in the country." She also said she was tired of the "sickening news and sometimes kept away from the newspapers. But she expressed the view "the Port-of-Spain and the San Fernando Hospitals were in a mess, and all we could boast about were the fantastic buildings going up all over the country." Around midday, a young woman with long hair was spotted chatting on a cellphone, underneath the cashew tree at Hart's home. When The T&T Guardian news crew disembarked from the car, she disappeared inside. In the background, two dogs barked and birds chirped on outstretched boughs on the cashew tree.
Plants in coconut baskets swung at the base of the cashew tree. No human sounds were heard coming from the house. The only music came from the two chimes outside the front porch. One was in the shape of seashells and the other like long silver rods. No one was swinging in the purple hammock. Two blue and white dolphins and a tortoise were hung on the left hand side of the wall. On the right side of the house, there is a little island. A mermaid was sandwiched between two seashells. A row of green plants stood alongside the cashew tree. To the front of the house, there is a water tank. Outside, in a white cross-shaped box, there was an intercom. No one responded to our requests to speak to Hart or responded as to his whereabouts.