PM talks about Venezuela grant money…

While other national issues have preoccupied G.O.B., News Five sat down with Prime Minister Dean Barrow, on a one on one, for an update of matters that may have fallen off the radar temporarily. One of these include the Venezuelan grant earmarked for housing projects. Barrow told News Five the monies are being used for both repairs and construction, and that the government is not playing politics with the funds.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“The country has been divided into zones and there are Committees to which the applications are sent and then those Committees approve those applications. There is still a residual function that the Ministry of Housing must discharge. So the Ministry of Housing will say fine, the Committee has approved these particular applications, we can begin to disburse the money, but on certain conditions. We want to see that you have provided the pictures that will document that your home is in a state of disrepair, that this money is not being funnelled to cronies and to partisans who do not actually deserve the money or who, worse, don’t even have a home that’s legitimately in need of repairs.”

Marion Ali
“It’s not set up in such a way that the Minister can play politics as to who get and who doesn’t?”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“No, because I believe that the decision as to who gets and who doesn’t get is made by the zone Committee. In other words, the Area Representative makes a decision but then he submits the applications to those committees and that’s where that determination is made. The Minister is more concerned about the oversight function after that decision has been made and the monies are then to be disbursed.”