BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AFTER Minister of Education the Hon. Nigel Carty’s declaration that $6M has been spend on repairing the Basseterre High School (BHS), local economist Vernon Harris is calling upon the government to give “a detailed explanation” on the way in which that large sum was spent.
It was during a press conference held last week that Minister Carty told the media that while he cannot give a precise figure, he could indicate that “we have spent in the vicinity of $6,000,000 for physical repairs and paying contractors etc etc…
“But a lot of funds have been invested through Public Works usual regular expenditure… So they are part of the usual budgetary allocations but we would have to go back and do a more careful analysis to see how we can quantify – not only the materials that have been used – but we also have to take account of the additional work which has had to be put in by Public Works and what might have been expended as wages and salaries to support the increased input of labour on the path of those persons.
“So I would say definitely in the region of $6M.”
Speaking with SKNVibes, the economist said $6,000,000 is a large amount of money and in his view, that sum could have been used to demolish the old structures of the school and erect entirely new campuses, which would have assisted in eliminating most of the environmental issues which are being experienced there.
“If you look at the Basseterre High School situation, they said that they spent $6M. I want to know what it is they have spent the $6M on. Who have they given the money to? A new building could have been constructed for $6M… It’s ridiculous.
“What we need is to see what the money was spent on. The materials for the building come in duty-free, the equipment is duty-free, everything is duty-free. …So what is it that you have spent $6M on because they haven’t built any new building…They have renovated a lot of the school. Now to date they have spent $6M but that could have built a new campus. So the thing is who benefitted? And the government really ought to tell us who benefitted. Which areas?”
Harris – while speaking with this media house – called on the Ministry of Education to provide a detailed explanation of how the money was spent.
“They have to give us a breakdown of all the areas on which they have spent all this money. People ought to know. It’s our money. We need to have a detailed explanation of the way in which the $6M was spent… We need to know what they spent on material, what is spent on painting, what was spent on school equipment, desks and chairs… We need to know. People have a right to know how this $6M was spent.”
