UPP MP Richard Lewis is upping the pressure on government to shed light on a deal allowing the Works Ministry to pay a peppercorn rent for a building apparently owned by the Prime Minister’s son.
Controversy erupted last month over revelations that the ministry was paying just $1 a month to occupy the Friars Hill Road property.
Lewis previously raised questions over the agreement, noting also that the PM’s wife, Works Minister Maria Browne, sits on the West Indies Oil Company (WIOC) board that sold Gaston Browne III the property, which houses three government offices under Maria Browne’s ministerial portfolio.
The opposition MP claims PM Gaston Browne has failed to provide comprehensive answers.
Yesterday, Lewis announced he had delivered four letters under the Freedom of Information Act, formally requesting answers and documentation from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Urban Renewal, the Ministry of Works, and WIOC.
The information requested includes records on the manner of WIOC’s sale of the property, records of all rent payments, and expenditures to repair and upgrade the property, the re-negotiated lease terms (agreed to after the expiration of the initial 18-month term), the tendering process, and correspondence between the property owner, the ministries and WIOC.
The letters, said to have been delivered on April 2, were also copied to the Information Commissioner, who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the act. By law, responses must be provided within 20 working days of receipt of the requests.
The act, enacted in 2004, gives the public the right to access information held by public authorities.
“Given the Prime Minister’s boasts about his government’s transparency, I expect that the requested information will be furnished quickly, without any attempts made to frustrate senior public servants in the fulfilment of their duties under the act,” Lewis said.
“The public has a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent. And they are particularly concerned right now, while they are suffering under the Gaston-led government’s high cost of living, with no meaningful relief.
“I will continue to utilise freedom of information requests, as the need arises, to ensure government’s transparency and accountability, in keeping with the principles of good governance,” he added.
PM Browne has denied any “legal, ethical or moral violation”.
“The Ministry of Works rents from all and sundry irrespective of their political affiliation,” he told Parliament last month.