Elizabeth Stair

Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

In the absence of a policy to govern the rental of state-owned properties, high-ranking officials of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) are protesting the preferential rates enjoyed by official to the governing People's National Party (PNP).

Opposition officials are adamant that two PNP Members of Parliament and an adviser, who is also a proposed candidate in the August 27 general election, are not eligible for the benefit they are enjoying.

Two categories of officials

But Elizabeth Stair, commissioner of lands and CEO at the National Land Agency (NLA), says consultants and all 60 Members of Parliament are eligible. She explains that there are two categories of officials to whom government houses are rented.

First are the "entitled public officials", who include the judiciary. Then, there are "eligible public officials", who are allocated houses on a demand-driven basis.

She points out that the eligible public officials include ministers of government, Members of Parliament, Permanent Secretaries, senior government officials, returning foreign service officers, and consultants or persons engaged in foreign technical assistance programmes.

However, Commissioner Stair admits that the modus operandi is based on tradition, not policy, as an official policy document does not exist at this time.

But, she reveals that her administration, which received portfolio responsibility for the houses in June 2005, is working on formulating a policy. "We have, therefore, been operating on what has been the normal practice over the years, hence we have started to work on a policy, which in the normal course of policy development is not a long time," she explains.

Not eligible

Nonetheless, JLP officials remain adamant that regular MPs and consultants are not eligible. "I am stating, as a matter of fact, that outside of particular housing arrangements for ministers of government and Permanent Secretaries (because it is part of their package), I am not aware of any policy for preferential treatment to ordinary individuals, whether they be consultants or MPs," says Audley Shaw, Opposition Spokesman on Finance.

He added, "(There is) no policy out there that governs them in terms of any preferential treatment, so I am saying that for these pro-perties, the market value should apply and the coffers of the government benefit and then you use the money to provide critical ser-vices to the taxpaying people of Jamaica."

Shaw said the renting of state-owned houses to individuals deemed ineligible by the JLP is nothing short of cronyism. "It is part of the sort of rampant favouritism and nepotism that is now a familiar characteristic of this Government," he says.

Further, he argues that consultants who already earn above-average income should not be benefiting from below-average housing expenses.