Minister with responsibility for housing Valerie Adams-Yearwood yesterday reiterated that she had no hand in the award of Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) contracts to her husband and that she only became aware of them when he informed her.
Adams-Yearwood yesterday released a statement through the Department of Public Information (DPI) “to provide clarity” and “to set the record straight” in light of recent concerns that a conflict of interest exists.
Explaining that her husband, Godfrey Yearwood, is a well-known contractor of over 33 years, the minister said that he was contracted by the CH&PA to construct a duplex unit, two single elevated units and two units for the differently-abled. The three contracts were all signed in 2017, with the final one signed in December, 2017. The Minister and Yearwood were married in August of 2017.
Prior to that, she said he was contracted in early 2017 along with another contractor to do rehabilitation works at the Linden office and both were highly commended publicly by CH&PA Chief Executive Officer Lelon Saul.
Yearwood, she noted, currently has one existing contract, which will conclude in two weeks.
“I had no input whatsoever, with regard to the award of these contracts. I became knowledgeable of same when Mr. Yearwood informed me directly,” she insisted.
According to Adams-Yearwood, like all other contractors, her husband received every contract through the official bidding process. “Every contract that was/is engaged in was awarded by the competent authority – the Board of Directors of CHPA, of which I am not a member. Like all other contractors, Mr. Yearwood is subject to the same rules and regulations, without exception,” she added.
The minister also sought to debunk claims that she collected money on her husband’s behalf. “There is absolutely no truth to the unfounded allegation that I collected any monies on behalf of my husband. I have never collected any cash or cheque(s) on behalf of Yearwood Contracting & Consultancy Company. It is a total falsehood. During my travels for medical reasons, Mr. Yearwood authorised Mr. Delroy Anthony to sign for cheques that became payable during Mr. Yearwood’s absence,” she said.
Further, she stressed that she did not and is not presiding over any aspect of the contract award process. “The selection of contractors, the awarding of and/or the termination of contracts are outside my remit as Minister. I had no involvement in the (pre or post) award of the contracts to my husband or any other contractor,” she said.
Adams-Yearwood explained that in 2017, as part of the effort to promote the Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond Project, she was present at the symbolic signing ceremony for contractors that had been pre-qualified to build houses for the Housing Expo. She said two of the contractors signed their documents that day but stopped short of saying if her husband was one of these persons.
“All aspects of the selection and award processes had been completed by the competent authority. My presence was purely ceremonial,” she said before adding that she later met with contractors to discuss policy matters and share the ministry’s expectations with regard to meeting deadlines and quality standards. Again, she refrained from stating whether her husband was part of this discussion.
With regards to her husband’s alleged indebtedness to a sub-contractor, the minister explained the sub-contractor could not be paid as he had done substandard work which had to be corrected by her husband using his own money.
“As far as I know, a sub-contractor… was engaged by Mr. Yearwood in 2018. During the period of (6) weeks, while we were overseas, the sub-contractor did a lot of substandard work which was rejected by CH&PA,” she said.
Defective works
She added that materials that were purchased by Yearwood and left in possession of Murphy could not be accounted for. “The defective works had to be corrected by the Contractor Mr. Yearwood using his own finances. The sub-contractor, therefore, could not be paid for those works,” she explained.
“I trust that the foregoing has set the record straight on this matter,” she said in closing.
It was opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo who had brought the contract awards to the public’s attention when he told the press that the sub-contractor visited his office and complained that Yearwood had not paid him for works done. The man, according to Jagdeo, showed him correspondence he had written to various government officials, including President David Granger.
“Yearwood sub-contracted these guys from the villages to do the work and then refused to pay them for the work done. So [the sub-contractor] came here and he showed me…Four times he addressed the matter [to the president] and [there were] four acknowledgment of his complaints and until now, he can’t get [any recourse]. Over a year of trying… he can’t pay his workers; they’re harassing him, because the minister’s husband refusing to pay for contracts he got from the ministry his wife runs,” Jagdeo had said.
It was later revealed that Yearwood built houses for a CH&PA project which was launched in June of 2017, two months before he and the minister were married.
Adams-Yearwood admitted that one contract was signed in December 2017 but did not disclose the signing dates of the other two.
Saul has suggested that the issuance of contracts to Yearwood should be reviewed since a conflict of interest exists. He made this comments after being told that the minister had directed the media’s questions to him.
He acknowledged, too, that a sub-contractor had complained to the CH&PA that Yearwood had failed to pay him for works completed.
“A complaint was lodged at the ministry sometime last year (and) we would’ve called in both parties and we advised them to settle the issue,” he said.
Like Saul, the then Chairman of the CH&PA Board Elsworth Williams also said he saw a conflict of interest in the award of contract to Yearwood. Although he could not remember issuing a contract to Yearwood, he has said that the board will have to take responsibility for the impropriety in such a circumstance.
“We did so much for Central Housing that I can’t remember that specific contract and I don’t know that we were ever informed that a contractor was the minister’s husband. We have heard about it now. I’m seeing it in the news now and if the CEO, who has access to all the minutes, says a contract exists, it exists,” Williams said last in response to questions from Stabroek News.
Williams, however, declined to comment on a possible way forward, while noting that the life of the board ended on January 30th and, therefore, it would be “unethical” for him to comment on a matter which is no longer within his purview.
