Oneil Grant not resigning from NHT Board

One member of the Board of the National Housing Trust (NHT) has declared that he has no intention of resigning, despite the fact that two other Board members stepped down on Monday, in light of the deepening Outameni controversy.

Public outrage has been growing in response to relevations concerning the the purchase of the Outameni property which previously operated as a theme park and tourist attraction.

  
Two Board members - trade unionists Kavan Gayle and Helene Davis Whyte - announced their resignations on Monday evening.

But Oneil Grant, President of  the Jamaica Civil Service Association, who is one of  the nine remaining members on the Board told RJR News that he saw no reason to step down. Furthermore, he said he remained fully supportive of the decision to purchase the property, which, he asserted, was never intended for housing development.

"We took the decision to invest in a cultural item for our contribution to the Jamaica 50 (the 50th anniversary of the country's Independence in 2012) legacy projects, and we bought the property with the clear understanding that it would not have been for housing development," he declared.

 

That explanation supports, in part, the reason given by Easton Douglas, Chairman of the NHT Board, in his initial statements on the purchase, but it runs counter to the explanation given in Parliament last week by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

Rather than resigning, Mr. Grant told RJR News he would await the Prime Minister's decision to dissolve the Board, if that's her choice.