Former Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Housing Brensil Rolle yesterday called Minister of the Environment and Housing Kenred Dorsett's comments in Parliament last week a "feeble" attempt to distract from the Christie administration's "poor performance in the Ministry of Housing".
During his contribution on the mid-year budget, Dorsett accused the Ingraham administration of illegally building and selling government homes before the May 2012 general election.
He said the Free National Movement (FNM) built more than 400 homes in its last term, but said those homes were not built in accordance with the Planning and Subdivision Act.
Rolle called that assertion "reckless".
"He must know that homes were built on land owned by the government," Rolle said in a statement.
"Secondly, he should know that all subdivisions are coordinated by the relevant government agencies and every subdivision design is approved by the Subdivision Section of the Ministry of Works.
"The FNM, therefore, concludes that this political attempt to blame the former Minister of Housing Kenneth Russell is really a veiled attempt to discredit the hard working public officers that are tasked to perform the ground work for the construction of subdivisions."
Rolle said instead of focusing his attention on building homes, Dorsett has continued to make excuses and attribute blame to the FNM.
He said the housing minister has failed to fulfill the promises he made to the Bahamian people, and should get on with the job of building homes and accommodating Bahamians.
He said as dozens of homes have yet to be completed in Pride Estates, Fire Trail, Sunset and Abaco, Dorsett should be reminded that the Ingraham administration agreed and paid for the infrastructure of the subdivisions that were under construction during the general election to be completed in July 2012.
"However, upon coming to office the program was stopped and the subdivisions [were] neglected and abandoned," Rolle said.
He said the former administration met the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation (BMC) in chaos when it came to office in 2007, but the then government did not complain.
Dorsett also said the FNM administration between 2007 and 2012 started construction of 566 homes and completed 450 by May 7, 2012.
Rolle called that statement laughable and encourages Dorsett to "get on with building his 20 houses as quickly as he can".
Dorsett said his ministry has begun construction on new government homes.
Last June, the Ministry of Finance signed a $60 million memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Insurance Board and the BMC for the program.
At the time, Dorsett said the project would begin in 30 days.
However, it was delayed due to the failure to fulfill several stipulations in the MOU, he later said.
These included the hiring of a financial advisor and a project manager, he said.
The first phase of the housing plan calls for the construction of 127 homes and construction is expected to take place over the course of the year.
NIB is providing the department of Housing with $10 million, in $2.5 million quarterly installments, to begin the program.

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