By Robert Hart, Parliamentary ReporterMICHAEL PEART, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has admonished Housing Minister Donald Buchanan for accusing at least one Member of Parliament of issuing 'bogus' invoices for a non-existent hardware store under a $120 million housing programme.
Minister Buchanan on Wednesday provided a report to Parliament on the investigations into the matter, fulfilling a request made earlier this month by the House Speaker.
However, according to the report made by Mr. Buchanan, the hardware store involved, Vandev Hardware Ltd., was eventually located in Whitehall, Negril, and not Montego Bay Freeport, Montego Bay, where a letter from the Member of Parliament suggested.
"Based on the interviews conducted with the selected beneficiaries it was revealed that they had not yet received any materials," Mr. Buchanan said.
He added: "It should be noted that no payments have been made to the hardware from the Ministry of Water and Housing."
Responding to the Housing Minister's report, the Speaker said that he did not believe it would be appropriate to pursue the matter any further. "I would like the matter to be left as is for now," he said.
The Speaker added: "My only caution is, when we make utterances in this House, we must try to be more temperate in how we say things. Even if what we say is substantiated in the end, the way in which we say it conveys wrong messages. Let us learn from this exercise."
The housing programme, a Government/Food For The Poor joint venture, is expected to assist 12,000 families in constituencies across the island. Under one component of the programme, $1 million is allocated to each MP to provide building materials to aid with repairs to the homes of some of their constituents. The suppliers of the materials to be used are recommended by the MPs.
