Parliament paying rent for 2 Ministers – Sherlock Isaacs

… denies claims of increased housing allowance

While admitting that two Ministers are having their rent paid in full by Parliament, Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs has denied that there was an increase in all housing allowances for Ministers.
In an interview with Guyana Times on Tuesday, Isaacs asserted that housing allowances are enshrined in the law and remain set at $25,000. However, he has admitted that a monthly sum of $500,000 was paid for Minister within the Natural Resources Ministry, Simona Broomes, to rent a house on the basis that she lives “out of town.”
“The housing allowance was not increased. The law says that Ministers within the Government are entitled to occupy, free of rent, a furnished residence provided by the Government,” Isaacs explained. “So some Ministers have moved into Government residences, they are paid $25,000 a month.”
He noted that if State-sponsored housing cannot accommodate any other persons, then they would have to rent. Isaacs noted that the housing allowance is separate from the rental. He added that there were two Ministers who have their rent paid in full.
“As far as I know, only two (houses) are being rented for out of town Ministers. That is Minister (David) Patterson and Minister (Simona) Broomes, who was brought by the Government from out of Georgetown. Minister Patterson is from Linden, Minister Broomes is from Bartica.”
Meanwhile, Isaacs noted that the decision to have the Parliament office pay the rent for the Ministers, instead of the Office of the President, was taken in a bid to centralise the process. “Payments were done by several Ministries. You had Office of the President paying the electricity and maids, the Ministry of Agriculture paying the gardener… This Administration (decided) to have everything paid from the Parliament office.”
The issue of Parliament paying the rent for Minister Broomes came to the fore when she became the subject of a court action initiated by her former landlord, who had taken her to court for rent owed.
<<<Guyana Times>>> obtained a copy of the legal proceedings, which shows the Minister, as co-defendant in default of over $1 million in house rent, reportedly incurred between November 2016 and January 2017.
The plaintiff, Dr Peter Ramsaroop, who has since withdrawn the matter, had initiated legal action against three co-defendants: the Attorney General of Guyana, Basil Williams; the Parliament of Guyana, and the junior Minister, Broomes.
The lawsuit highlighted that on January 13, 2016, the plaintiff, using his Lot 27 Jacaranda Avenue, Bel Air Park, Georgetown property, entered into a written Agreement of Tenancy with the Parliament of Guyana, the second-named defendant – represented therein by the Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly – for the said body to let the premises from February 1, 2016 to February 1, 2017 at a monthly rental of the Guyana dollar equivalent of US$2500 (GYD$520,000).