OF DUCKS AND PUSSY CATS

The erstwhile leader of the People's Empowerment Party, Phillip Edward Alexander, and blogger Suzette Louwe, have both been asking some serious questions of UDECOTT about the cost of repairing both President's House (which was reported to cost some $89 million) and the Red House (which was reported to cost some $500 million).  UDECOTT has stonewalled their queries and have apparently threatened to sue Mr. Alexander whose posts on the subject do raise some serious questions as well as some very ugly suspicions.

Now, let's get something straight: repairs to an old property always cost more than if you were to knock down the old building and start afresh with a brand new one. Indeed, to my great chagrin I found this out the hard way when I bought an old house and have spent much more on repairing it than I would have if I had simply knocked it down and rebuilt a brand new house. But, you live and learn and that (for me) is water under the bridge.

My point is that I didn't really agree with either Ms. Louwe or Mr. Alexander that the reported costs of repairing both properties were exorbitant. On the other hand, the fact that UDECOTT has so steadfastly refused to be transparent about how the amount of  monies to repair the properties  were  arrived at  raised alarm bells in my mind. I mean, this is public money that was spent ... and it wasn't some small amount either! In the case of the Red House we are talking about  a half a billion dollars!! And this is at a time when we are in a very serious financial predicament!

It is my view that there is absolutely no good reason for UDECOTT to be silent on this matter and that the state enterprise should answer ALL the questions that both Mr. Alexander and Ms. Louwe have raised ... even if some might consider some of the questions frivolous.  If there was overspending we should know about it. But the truth is that there is another rather sinister aspect to all of this; the obvious reluctance of UDECOTT to be open and upfront can lead the reasonable person to conclude that UDECOTT is hiding something. And if the state enterprise is hiding something what is a reasonable deduction as to what they might be hiding if not some sort of  corruption?

Without the information being given to Ms. Louwe and Mr. Alexander it is impossible to say definitively that there is corruption. But the seeming reluctance to be open about the requested information can and does lead to very ugly and what ought to be most unnecessary suspicions that there is/was some sort of corruption being covered up. After all, if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is most unreasonable to call it a pussy cat!