Former managing director of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Jearlean John is not the only one with questions about expenditure at the state agency. Former People’s National Movement (PNM) minister of housing Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde said she found “unacceptable” practices at HDC when she took over as minister in 2007.
In the aftermath of Thursday’s shake-up at the HDC and subsequent revelations of a massive $10 billion misspent under the PNM, Dick-Forde broke her silence and spoke out on what she inherited when she took over the ministry from her predecessor, now Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. Dick-Forde was the line minister responsible for the HDC from 2007 to 2010, while Rowley had that ministry from 2003 to 2007.
On Thursday, managing director Jearlean John and seven other senior HDC managers were sent on administrative leave pending the outcome of an independent audit into the state enterprise.
Yesterday, Dick-Forde first told the Sunday Guardian she “had nothing to say” about John’s revelations that some $10 billion was spent from 2007 to 2009.
“This is a fluid situation. I think I should just wait and see how this goes before I say anything,” Dick-Forde said. “What I can say is that under my watch, I found things were unacceptable and did all I could and brought in good people at the HDC.”
Dick-Forde would not clarify if that meant that those who worked with Rowley before she took over were bad for the organisation.
Instead she directed the Sunday Guardian to the Parliament Hansard of February 2010, where Rowley, who had by then been backbenched by former prime minister Patrick Manning, was posing questions on spending at the HDC, specifically the award of a $20 million contract. Dick-Forde was absent from Parliament that day and then works minister, now Finance Minister Colm Imbert, responded to Rowley’s questions on her behalf.
Imbert said then that Evolve Partners LLC had provided insight into the operations at the HDC and found “inadequate front end project planning, pre planning of projects including final planning approvals and clear designs for developments were non-existent for the majority of the projects.”
Imbert said then that the contractor also discovered that the HDC showed an “inconsistent adherence to common processes” and a lack of co-ordination with key stakeholders, contractors, suppliers, public utilities, statutory agencies and the Government. Evolve Partners LLC also said that “support processes were ineffective—financial control, allocations, project management.”
The Sunday Guardian has been attempting to contact HDC chairman Newman George since news of John’s removal first surfaced.
George first answered his mobile phone on Thursday and asked that he be contacted 20 minutes later. He did not respond to several calls between Friday and yesterday. The Sunday Guardian also attempted to text him three times requesting information on the HDC audit timeline and questioning the status of key distributions.
Housing Minister Marlene McDonald said on Thursday that she was not apprised of the situation at the HDC and she did not respond to calls on Friday and Saturday for comment on the issue.
Garcia tipped to
replace John
There are reports that Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott) chairman, Noel Garcia, has been tipped to replace John as HDC managing director. Garcia served as HDC general manager, under both Dick-Forde and Rowley, during the time when John claims some $10 billion was “burnt” up by the state agency. In 2008, Garcia resigned from the HDC to take up chairmanships at three other state boards—the Estate Management and Business Development Corporation (EMBDC), National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (Namdevco), and Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).
On Friday, Garcia’s assistant answered his mobile phone and said that he was in a board meeting and would return calls “as soon as he gets out.” Garcia did not respond to subsequent texts or calls.
Just before leaving the country for a weekend visit to Barbados, Prime Minister Rowley made a blanket statement about his expectations from all ministers and appointees to state boards. He said he “appoints ministers to run sections of the Government and boards to run specific enterprises and other agencies.
“I like to see them assume responsibility and discharge it,” Rowley said.