The Editor,
The Minister of Public Administration [MPA] responded to my previous letter in the Sunday Edition of 29 October 2023, the very next day.
Minister West disputed my citations of the monthly rent of $600,000 and the 23,000sf floor area of those offices, as well as my conclusion that the resulting rent of $26psf signified ‘flagrant corruption’. The Minister went on to say that the correct monthly rent was $500,000 and that the floor area was in fact 43,295sf, which equates to a rent of $11.55psf.
As I indicated in the previous letter, my figures were drawn from both the PM’s public statements and the immediately subsequent Express article. The PM emphatically stated the monthly rent to be $600,000 at the post-Cabinet Media Briefing on Thursday 23rd March 2023 and the 23,000sf floor area is in that Express article of 11 March 2023 – $40M SPENT ON NEW DPP OFFICE – but I have not been able to establish any other source for that citation.
Minister West gave no citations in support of the claimed figures and I reject entirely the unstated position too often taken by our rulers that “if I say so, is so.” I gave my citations, so given that MPA is relying upon the Lease and Valuation Report for this property to challenge my citations, those documents should be published now, to “show us their workings.”
Of course, if the State was able to rent those high-quality Park Court offices at $11.55psf, I have no difficulty in accepting that as a commendable negotiation outcome, notwithstanding the other aspects which have stirred public concern on this matter.
The AG told the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament on 19th October 2023 that the Public Money spent on that property was $55,551,443.93 (at 4:49:45). Given the understandable and widespread public concerns arising from this large-scale expenditure, it would be an important step towards transparency for the MPA to issue details of how those monies were spent. The $500,000 monthly rent stated by Minister West would amount to $19.0M over the three years and two months that property was leased. The cost of the improvements and modifications has repeatedly been stated as $24M. The total of those two figures is only $43M, so I have certain concerns. I am sure that a statement clarifying those details can be quickly issued.
Finally, this entire issue of the wasted Public Money on these offices which were never occupied is rooted in the requirement for a proper Needs Assessment before committing to any Procurement. If a Needs Assessment was done in this matter, there is certainly good reason to re-examine that process to ensure that we avoid such waste in the future.
The Minister also mentioned that these details are available on the ‘Property & Real Estate portal’ at https://pmis.gov.tt/, but this as yet inaccessible to the public. Why not make the entire database readily accessible to the public, just like the EBC list?
Afra Raymond
afraraymond.net
AfraRaymond.net 
Dear Afra:
Thanks! I read it in the Express.
Selwyn
Afra,
Your latest statement is a good challenge to Minister West’s attempted rebuttal of your Letter to the Editor. It should remind remind us all of Mark Twain’s famous quotation: ‘Facts are stubborn things’ because they don’t go away.
Regards Victor
Yes, Victor, let’s see if the MPA can follow a simple request to ‘just press SEND’ and avoid any further Media Conferences and so on…
Thanks! I read it in the Express.
Selwyn
Professor Selwyn R. Cudjoe Africana Studies Department, Wellesley College Twitter: @professorcudjoe http://www.selwynrcudjoe.com Tel: +1(781)2832568
>
Until we legally create, enforce and execute laws that will make the party executives et al liable for wasting our resources and have them repay those monies or the value of the things wasted, including human resources, will we have some semblance of democracy. CLR James told us in his 1962 Party Politics in the West Indies that it will ruin this region. From the current global status today these ‘parties’ have dragged us down to unforgivable depths. The UN is divided into factions that deconstruct its policies. I guess we all wish to be right and those with the might bulldoze through the ‘Palestines’ who impede opulent progress.