Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has said he cannot occupy the office and the official residence of the Prime Minister because they are both in poor condition.
According to Nagamootoo, the Wight’s Lane office which was occupied by his predecessor in the previous administration Sam Hinds is not suitable. Presently, he noted, there are two other ministers at the building since it houses the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
“When I went there, there are two ministers occupying that building and upstairs Mr Hinds didn’t even have a desk. He [sat] in a boardroom and the windows [were] opened. There are no curtains at the windows,” the Prime Minister told this newspaper.
He said he has since taken up office space in the Ministry of the Presidency’s complex—he occupies what is known as the Office of Climate Change—and he was not definitive on whether he would occupy the office at Wight’s Lane.
“They are going to be refurbishing it. Or, somewhere else, wherever they may find an office for the Prime Minister. I am not in a hurry. What is more important is not where I live or what office I occupy, it is what work I do and so the work is being done,” he said.
As to why he is not occupying the Prime Minister’s official residence, which was just vacated by Hinds and his family, Nagamootoo said when he visited the “first thing I was confronted with was dead rats in the oven.”
He also disclosed that there is plastic in the roofing to catch water which might have leaked in when it rained “and they got these wide scotch tape in the sitting room to prevent… granny sugar from falling on your head.”
“That is the state of the place and I couldn’t see the barrack room there that they had for guards; I probably wouldn’t even put my dogs there, I think they would die,” he added.
He explained because the building has heritage significance he has indicated that all the time that is needed to repair should be taken as he wants it “to be fixed in its proper way, don’t try to do some slap dash job on it.”
“Take your time. In the meantime, I am comfortable home,” Nagamootoo said.
