Says houses taking too long to be distributed
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATIVE for Constituency No. Two the Hon. Marcella Liburd has responded to a call made by Minister of Housing the Hon. Eugene Hamilton to ask her supporters and the country at large to refrain from vandalizing houses that are to soon be distributed.
Two days ago, it was discovered that five of the dwelling units at Pine Gardens were broken into and transformers were stolen from within. More than a week earlier, another set - between Pine Gardens and Green Tree - was vandalized and two transformers were stolen.
Addressing the media a couple of days ago, Minister Hamilton condemned the acts of vandalism and made a call to the Hon. Liburd to make a statement on the issue.
“I want to publically condemn the perpetrator in what I would consider to be a very near criminal act and I also want to call on members of the Opposition who have been raising the discussion on the distribution of these houses to a level that may very well result in incensing people about these houses.
“I’m calling specifically on Hon. Marcella Liburd who is the representative for this constituency to come out and make a statement on the break-in and the removal of the transformers or anything at all from these buildings. I would trust that it is not language used by the Opposition that is fueling this and I expect her to be a responsible person and to encourage any supporters of hers…in fact, the entire country to desist from breaking into the property which is public property for the time being and built with tax payers’ money.”
In an interview with SKNVibes, Liburd categorically stated that she would not encourage vandalistic behaviour.
“I would not encourage anybody to vandalize any of the houses. As a matter of fact, they were built under my watch. I wouldn’t encourage anybody to go out there and vandalize them….whether it is government property or private property. I just want to say however I’m glad the Minister suddenly found out what is responsibility, because he has made some very irresponsible comments when he was in opposition about all sorts of things.”
She said it has been 14 months since the Team Unity Administration had taken office and it has taken that long for the houses to be distributed.
Liburd informed that a point system was implemented under the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Administration for the distribution of the houses and claimed that it was abandoned by the Team Unity Administration because “they wanted to go in there and do their own thing and give whoever they want”.
This, she said, is the reason for the 14-month delay in the delivery of the houses.
In a previous interview with SKNVibes however, Hamilton explained that a rating system is used in determining who would receive the houses. It is not known to this media house if the two systems are one and the same.
While reiterating her stance against vandalism, Liburd suggested that with such a long period of time having elapsed before the houses could be distributed, some individuals might have committed the acts out of frustration.
She however did indicate that at the time when the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Administration was voted out of office, the houses at Pine Gardens were not yet allocated to anyone.
