Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development, Denis Kellman says the state of the finances which the Democratic Labour Party Government inherited has limited the options available to get
the country back on track.
Kellman made the remarks as he piloted the debate in the House of Assembly yesterday morning on a resolution to vest a parcel of land at Station Hill, St. Peter, the site of the former District E Police Station, in the National Housing Corporation.
“Until this House educates itself on the difference between the cash basis and the accrual basis, we will never be able to understand the true extent of the damage that was left by the Barbados Labour Party in the housing sector and other sectors. A lot of people walk around and blame the Democratic Labour Party for what it was not accountable for,” he contended.
Minister Kellman said that since coming to power in 2008, the DLP Government did not only have to deal with the debt that they incurred, but they also had to worry about the debt that was left for them. He suggested that the former Government was spending more than it had, and was not paying its debts.
“You cannot have $10 and spend $20 for 14 years, don’t pay what you owe and then expect another government to come and pick it up, and don’t expect the expenditure to be greater. But that is the hand we have been dealt and that is the hand we are playing, and that is the hand we will play. But it cannot be business as usual because the masses of people out there who are depending on the Democratic Labour Party have an expectation. We cannot do it by debt, so we have to find creative ways to ensure that we find the necessary cash to pay to ensure that those masses of people out there are able to sustain their expected demands that they have of us,” he said.
The Housing and Lands Minister added, “We have to be honest with ourselves and understand that an organisation that doesn’t have money must find money to be able to pay and execute its programmes.”
In respect of the Ministry of Housing, he said he too is playing the hand he has been dealt, and he is prepared to be creative to find ways to run his Ministry and create the required revenue. (JRT)