Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday questioned why the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) awarded millions of dollars in cleaning contracts to “a particular woman who had a problem with me.”
Rowley said when the People’s Partnership Government came into office in 2010, there were thousands of houses that were in various stages of construction, built by the PNM, that were available for distribution to the public.
“They did not distribute them. They did absolutely nothing with them. They hold them there until the election in 2015,” Rowley told supporters at Woodford Square, Port-of Spain.
He said while people were desperate for homes, the HDC, which fell under the purview of Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, “locked up the houses and they (HDC) were paying selected people to clean and secure them on a regular basis. And that action caused you the taxpayers millions of dollars.”
He said these contracts should never have been given out. Rowley said among the people who were paid millions of dollars to clean those houses “is a particular woman who had a problem with me.”
“That is how they run this country. So when you see them doing things it is nothing for free.”
While Rowley steered clear of calling the woman’s name, the PNM crowd went into an uproar and began shouting the name of a former journalist.