From Milshirv to Mt. St. George: Who builds on Lands Not Owned?

Rowley in a PNM's meeting at Buccoo took a big bite into the integrity of  leader of the TOP Ashworth Jack.  Jack's response to his mult million dollar mortgage free home has shifted the political conversation from Milshirv to Mt. St. George. Dr. Keith Rowley in his speech indicated that Ashworth Jack has raised more questions than provide answers when it comes to his new home situated on lands which he doesn't yet have a title to. 

Dr. Rowley is right by saying "Nobody in their right mind would build a $4 million house or $2 million house on land that does not belong to you, that you are trying to purchase. You make a small downpayment, you not finish paying for the land, you come into some money, the first thing you (would normally) do is buy the land, then you build the house. But you don't build the house and leave the land unpaid for".

 Further Rowley wasted no time in devouring Jack's reputation by exposing his "irrational" thought processes "And if that is your style, if that is how you make decisions, if that is your thought process— don't pay for the land but build a mansion on it—then you should not be offering yourself to the people of Tobago as Chief Secretary. And then (he is) coming with this Anansi story about how you plant cucumber and pumpkin (to help pay for the house).

Rowley an experience politician pecked the whole night at the Ashworth Jack. Rowley stated that Jack would have talked himself into a difficult situation and the least he can do is provide the name of the Contractor in which he  was collecting this $ 35000. In addition, Rowley then asked if he was declaring this income to the Inland Revenue as an income of $35000 would be taxed by the State.  Furthermore, 12 months multiplied by 35,000 was still far short of the value of the multi-million house Rowley said. Moreover, even if one was to multiply it by 48 months (4 Years) it still would fall hundred of thousands of dollars short of the estimated value. 

"And to make matters worse, he refuses to say who he is working for as a project manager. The least you (Jack) could do as a public official is to answer the question, who are you working for," Rowley said, adding: "Is it that if we find out who he is working for, that opens a new can of worms?

"If the person running for the position of Chief Secretary cannot explain how they afforded to obtain certain assets, can you meaningfully trust this person to manage public millions when they have question marks about their private business where it might interact with their public business?"

I hope for Jack's sake and his aspiration he does have a credible rebuttal to all this, because PNM looks hard bent on stressing this and making the best meal out of this one.