JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Devant wants Integrity probe of housing for MPs

by

2687 days ago
20180228

Kristy Ram­nar­ine

For­mer Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress sen­a­tor De­vant Ma­haraj has writ­ten to In­tegri­ty Com­mis­sion chair­man Jus­tice Melville Baird re­quest­ing an im­me­di­ate in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the Cab­i­net.

His re­quest is re­lat­ed to the al­lo­ca­tion of Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny (HDC) units to two Gov­ern­ment MPs and a Gov­ern­ment Sen­a­tor last year.

In­tegri­ty com­mis­sion reg­is­trar Jas­mine Pas­cal, in a let­ter dat­ed Jan­u­ary 19, 2018, ac­knowl­edged re­ceipt of Ma­haraj’s re­quest. “This mat­ter has been re­ferred to the In­tegri­ty Com­mis­sion for con­sid­er­a­tion,” Pas­cal wrote.

Nine days pri­or, on Jan­u­ary 11, Ma­haraj wrote to Baird call­ing for the probe.

“Giv­en that per­sons have been wait­ing for sev­er­al years to ac­quire a sim­i­lar hous­ing unit from the HDC, it begs the ques­tion how did these three PNM po­lit­i­cal ap­pointees ob­tain units be­fore oth­ers?” Ma­haraj wrote.

Ma­haraj list­ed Tourism Min­is­ter Sham­fa Cud­joe, Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter Ayana Web­ster-Roy and Sen­ate Vice Pres­i­dent Nigel De Fre­itas as the re­cip­i­ents of the units. He ded­i­cat­ed over three pages of his five-page let­ter to ad­dress is­sues with De Fre­itas in par­tic­u­lar, not­ing that the po­si­tion hold­er is nei­ther en­ti­tled to a hous­ing al­lowance or qual­i­fy for hous­ing in lieu of a hous­ing al­lowance un­der the Salaries Re­view Com­mis­sion (SRC) reg­u­la­tion.

Ac­cord­ing to the 98th Re­port of the Salaries Re­view Com­mis­sion, the hold­ers of the of­fices of Sen­ate vice pres­i­dent deputy speak­er of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives are en­ti­tled to al­lowances un­der the fol­low­ing cat­e­gories:

(i) En­ti­tle­ment to the cost of ac­com­mo­da­tion and meals in the event that the of­fice hold­er is re­quired to stay overnight as a re­sult of late sit­tings of Par­lia­ment, pro­vid­ed that he/she re­sides be­yond a ra­dius of six­teen (16) kilo­me­tres from Port-of-Spain.

(ii) For trav­el to To­ba­go/Trinidad on of­fi­cial busi­ness, the cost of ac­com­mo­da­tion and meals, as nec­es­sary, to be met by the State.

(iii) Trav­el/ac­com­mo­da­tion ex­pens­es, in­clud­ing meals, in­curred by the spouse of an of­fice hold­er in To­ba­go/Trinidad when at­tend­ing of­fi­cial func­tions in Trinidad/To­ba­go to be met by the State.

(iv) For trav­el abroad on of­fi­cial busi­ness, the pro­vi­sions of Min­is­ter of Fi­nance Cir­cu­lar No. 2 dat­ed April 7, 2006 or oth­er rel­e­vant Cir­cu­lar to ap­ply.

How­ev­er, on De­cem­ber 15, 2017, Hous­ing Min­is­ter Ran­dall Mitchell, re­spond­ing in writ­ing to a ques­tion seek­ing in­for­ma­tion on what date Cab­i­net ap­proved a hous­ing fa­cil­i­ty for De Fre­itas, said: “Cab­i­net, by Minute no. 468 of March 16th, 2017, agreed that Sen­a­tor Nigel De Fre­itas would be al­lo­cat­ed one (1) two-bed­room unit at the Vic­to­ria Keys Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment, Diego Mar­tin, from the re­spec­tive date of oc­cu­pan­cy to the re­spec­tive date he ceas­es to hold of­fice as Vice Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate or oth­er­wise de­ter­mined by Gov­ern­ment.”

Ma­haraj, in his let­ter, in­sist­ed that the Con­sti­tu­tion does not con­tem­plate that the Cab­i­net set terms and con­di­tions for Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment or any oth­er of­fi­cer of state. He went on to state that the ac­tions of the Cab­i­net in award­ing the HDC unit to the Sen­ate vice pres­i­dent may al­so be con­sti­tut­ed as a ma­te­r­i­al breach of the Con­sti­tu­tion and the code of con­duct of Sec­tions 23, 24 and 27 re­spec­tive­ly of the In­tegri­ty in Pub­lic in Life Act.

Ma­haraj end­ed his let­ter by urg­ing the com­mis­sion to take im­me­di­ate steps to re­view the is­sue.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

Ringmasters of the Road: Crowds flock to Tribe’s circus-themed band launch

6 hours ago
Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Scotiabank Foundation, United Way donate steelpans

6 hours ago
The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

Yesterday
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

Yesterday