MINISTER of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley has no plans to resign.
He said yesterday staff of the National Housing Corporation (NHC) would not be sidetracked, and he remained committed to “housing every last person”.
“We won’t be distracted by anything or anyone,” Lashley said yesterday after touring a housing complex at Stuart’s Lodge, Tweedside Road, St Michael, one of Government’s Housing Every Last
Person (HELP) projects. “We have work to do.”
Last weekend, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley called for Lashley to remove himself as minister, charging he had misled Barbadians in discussing in the House of Assembly details of a contract between CLICO and the NHC regarding the housing project at Constant, St George.
“We are remaining focused. We are here to deliver houses to Barbadians. And Barbadians will soon get their keys at Greens (St George); they will soon get their keys at Four Hill (St Peter); they will get them at French Village; and also at Country Park Towers.
“All have been allocated, and we will continue to work at getting more houses done. Move on to the next question,” the minister said to reporters.
Lashley and the NHC board also have the backing of Acting Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.
“The corporation should scrupulously pursue the highest standards of corporate governance,” Stuart said at last weekend’s 55th annual general conference of the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
“A dispassionate evaluation of the evidence up to now made available to me, has satisfied me that those standards are being met.”
Stuart endorsed the minister’s work ethic and ability to keep the HELP programme rolling inspite of serious financial challenges facing Government due to the recession.
“He has not only promised houses, he has delivered them. “Beneficiaries did not, before accepting their keys, ask whether the board knew about the houses or had been bypassed. They were happy to say: ‘I now own my own home’,” Stuart said.
