Published 30 November 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Cunningham Heights home owners given
fake keys at ceremony; houses incomplete
Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 30, 2017 – The recent public ceremony handing over several homes in Cayon has been described as a sham aimed at shoring up an unpopular Team Unity administration.
So says caretaker of St. Christopher 8 for the opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), Dr. Terrance Drew, who called on the Minister of Housing and the National Housing Corporation to make public its policy on mortgage payments.
Dr. Drew told listeners to Wednesday’s “Issues” programme on Freedom 106.5 FM and Kyss 102.5 FM, that new homeowners were given fake keys during a ceremony at Cunningham Heights, Cayon on November 10, by Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris and his Minister of Housing Mr. Eugene Hamilton.
“The persons who are to occupy those houses were given plastic or board keys as new owners of the homes. Up to today, the persons cannot get into the houses as they cannot get the real keys to enter the homes,” said Drew, who accused Prime Minister Harris, Minister of Housing Hamilton and the National Housing Corporation (NHC) of deception.
Dr. Drew said the houses are incomplete and not ready for occupation “as the ceremony was just for political mileage to up a very unpopular government.”
He said too that the issue of mortgage payments is controversial as the National Housing Corporation has yet to honestly make public its policy.
“Hamilton and team Unity during the election campaign promised to significantly reduce the mortgage payments. The true costs and the monthly mortgage payments for those houses are unknown,” said Drew, who added that the ceremony was held to give keys to persons when the homes are not ready to be occupied.
Dr. Drew also accused the housing minister and the NHC of fooling the people of Cayon and the nation that the recent handing over of a home to a senior citizen is a new idea.
“That is absolutely untrue. That is a policy introduced by the former Labour Government. To be showing video continuously on ZIZ and the minister giving the impression that it is a new idea crafted by him and that the house is newly built is sheer deception as that home was previously occupied by a person nicknamed ‘bigman’ who has passed,” said Dr. Drew.
Photo: Dr. Terrance Drew
