Akash Sama­roo

Se­nior Re­porter

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

“You want house? Then pay for house!”

That was the mes­sage Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar had for her Cab­i­net mem­bers as she an­nounced that she would put an end to state-fund­ed hous­ing for State of­fi­cials.

Speak­ing at yes­ter­day’s post-Cab­i­net me­dia brief­ing, Per­sad-Bisses­sar an­nounced, “I have re­quest­ed a list of State of­fi­cials sup­plied with state-fund­ed hous­ing to see how we could cut some costs.”

She said she was in­formed that there are gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials from the last ad­min­is­tra­tion with three to four state-fund­ed homes.

“Can you be­lieve that? We will let you know in due course. But I am not here about name call­ing, I am here about pol­i­cy and pro­grammes that more peo­ple from the coun­try can ben­e­fit from. So, I have asked for that, let’s see where we can cut some of these costs.”

The Prime Min­is­ter, in the pres­ence of her Cab­i­net mem­bers, said she has di­rect­ed her own min­is­ters to not ask for state-fund­ed hous­ing.

“The coun­try is not so large that you need to have a house in Port-of-Spain paid for by tax­pay­ers. There are peo­ple who don’t even have a house and you want to have two, your own house and one in town. No!”

Turn­ing slight­ly to face her min­is­ters as they stood be­hind her, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said, “Some might vex with me, but I will stick firm­ly to that.”

Adding to her ra­tio­nale for mak­ing that de­ci­sion, “And I will tell you why, min­is­ters have a hous­ing al­lowance paid for by the State. If you want a house in town, pay your own rent! You all agree? Pay your rent. Why must the tax­pay­er pay your rent when they can’t pay their own rent? They don’t even have a place to stay.

“And they all agreed to­day, maybe they didn’t like what I said, but they agreed and I will keep them to it,” she added.

“We have to cut costs,” the Prime Min­is­ter un­der­scored.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the coun­try is not large and her mem­bers can dri­ve.

“Even Point Fortin, giv­en the high­way, we had be­gun which we shall cer­tain­ly com­plete, what is it now? 45 min­utes? Morgua, Miss (Jear­lean) John, you have plen­ty of work to do for Moru­ga and Ma­yaro. The oth­er night I at­tend­ed a meet­ing in Moru­ga and I asked ‘which road is this, please?’ and they said ‘Pa­pourie Road’. I said, but this is not a road, it is a drain.”