If I were Minister of Housing Keith Rowley, the Managing Director of the recently-configured Housing Development Company (HDC), Noel Garcia, would be the first casualty for his abysmal performance in tackling the urban reconstruction predicament in Port of Spain.

To make matters worst, Garcia further humiliated the HDC on Sunday morning on i95.5 Radio, on the George “Umbala” Joseph programme, by his incompetence to deal specifically with matters that fall squarely under his portfolio.

The high-ranking official was either unable to answer very simple questions or was playing games when questioned on the issue of the relocation of tenants.

The head of the HDC does not want to admit that part of the 20/20 Vision is to reclaim their property from the poor and working class, tear down existing structures and build condominiums or apartments for the well to do.

Dr. KEITH ROWLEY

NOEL GARCIA

We cannot deny the facts that to Garcia and the People’s National Movement (PNM) hierarchy the urban massive are a repository of the lazy, depraved, and degenerate and their usefulness is strictly confined for voting or supporting the ruling party.

This is evident because the PNM condoned the stupidity for years and allowed their supporters to live free without paying rent or mortgage.

So how does Garcia intend to correct this malaise overnight?

It’s common knowledge that the issues are not as simple as Garcia is trying to explain and the HDC has very serious problems with housing, overcrowding and congestion, the environment, poverty and the urban decay.

Now that big business, and the chairman of the Board, a Clico bigwig, control HDC, their aim is to reclaim the city, which has virtually become a haven for the homeless, the drug addicts, the impoverished and criminals.

For it is clear from their actions that the time has come for these PNM fanatics to clear the way from downtown and move to the suburbs in Laventille or cooped up in Morvant.

Class cleansing, you may call it.

Although unfortunately, I envisage future problems as the HDC would have to build the homes similar to what exist and the lack of amenities and insufficient areas set aside for parking vehicles and playgrounds will not attract the well-to- do and most likely will revert to it’s original state.

Apparently the tenants who occupied the building for years without any real commitment are prepared to resist the move by the HDC to be relocated, they are demanding answers and their major concern is the fear that they would not be able to qualify financially to acquire the refurbished apartments.

Now that NHA has been restructured and the new house owners have to deal with Trinidad and Tobago Mortgage Finance (TTMF), they are conscious that they have no chances of returning to their community. Therefore, the resistance would be intensified and, as hinted by Garcia, the HDC has legal recourse because they are the owners of the property.

From all appearances the Port of Spain East Parliamentary representative, Eric Williams, and Garcia were subjected to serious verbal abuse, as they were unable to resolve the conflict that is sure to escalate after the Carnival season.

The real issue is that they are now attempting to bully the HDC tenants, as they want to implement the project as soon as possible.

Regardless of the nonsense or propaganda that Garcia is trying to feed the nation by his public relation stunt, he has not dealt with the issue realistically.

The government must not allow the HDC to resort to a legal dog-fight with their supporters.

They have a responsibility to resolve this conflict amicably.

When Garcia was asked, what would be the cost of the new apartments, his response was he did not know.

Could you imagine with the elaborate three pages of advertisement that appeared on the daily newspaper explaining the new managerial structure of the HDC, the Managing Director could not answer the most fundamental question?

Of course one would expect that the technocrats listed in the padded HDC organisation structure, namely the Divisional Manager, Project Management, certainly would know what are the cost of constructing the apartments and what would be the selling price.

So in my humble opinion Garcia is either a stranger to the truth, or his new management team is too sophisticated that he has already lost control of the organisation.

Whatever is the real deal he was not very convincing and the population was not satisfied that he was speaking the truth, maybe it’s time he concentrate on managing the oversized organisation and let the Corporate Services, Manager of Communication and Customer Relation do his/her job.

Since the government is embarking on spending most of the taxpayers money in housing developments that is desperately needed to alleviate the crucial demands for housing in the country, it’s important that proper accountability procedures are put in place.

In my humble opinion the new HDC, because of it’s political nature, would not be different from its predecessor National Housing Authority (NHA).

It would be the same gravy train with jobs for the boys and girls.

As a result of the accusation levelled by the Opposition with respect to housing padding and other irregularities, the head of the various departments would now be very sceptical as to who they hire, you would have to be a team player to be part of the new dispensation of the HDC.

After examining the new organisation structure, it could be compared to the Enron scam and some of the multi-million dollar enterprises in the USA, that are now financially bankrupt, and which most of the CEOs and Managing Directors are either serving long jail sentences or are before the court to answer charges of corruption.

From observation, the HDC organisational structure could be exploited to literally pass the bucks and can be seen as an attempt to make the paper trail difficult

To cut a long story short, politician and their cohorts can exploit the complicated corporate structure to siphon money for election campaigns.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning would do well to learn a lesson from the jailed son of his friend, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was this week found guilty of siphoning State funds to use in the re-election of his father, who is now in a coma.

What a thing!