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The Mayor’s residence. in Waterworks. |
The search by the police of Kingston’s Mayor Desmond McKenzie’s recently constructed multi-million dollar residence has raised questions about the acquisition and declaration of assets by public officials.
Based on a Sunday Herald investigation the land in question at Parkway, Waterworks was acquired by the Mayor and his wife Elaine McKenzie for $20 million on the April 23, 2009. An examination of the Certificate of Title shows where the Jamaica National Building Society registered mortgage No. 1594278 on the same day for $15 million. There is now a very large house, which was recently constructed on the land.
Sources in the construction industry advise that the construction costs of the house on the land is in the region of $70 to $80 million. Investigations also show that the mayor and his wife have acquired real estate holdings in excess of $30 million between 2006 and 2009. These include properties at Calabar Mews and Winchester Park.
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Mayor Desmond McKenzie |
Based on documents seen by the Sunday Herald, transfer number 1409565 transferring the property at Calabar Mews was registered on May 5, 2006 to the mayor and his wife, a housewife, for $5.5 million. A mortgage for $3 million by Jamaica National Building Society was registered on the title.
An examination of the title to the property at Lot 28 Winchester Park shows that a consideration of $8 million was paid for this property. There is no mortgage registered on the Certificate of Title.
These holdings have caused eyebrows to be raised and questions asked about the source of funds for the purchase of these holdings as well as the construction cost of the house at Parkway.
There is a renewed call in the country for transparency in public life has resulted in people wishing to know the answer to the following questions:
- • How many real estate holdings were purchased by the mayor and his wife since his taking over the post of mayor?
- • What is the mayor’s annual salary?
- • What is the total of the mayor’s monthly mortgage payments?
- • What other source of income does the mayor have?
- • What is income of the mayor’s wife? .
- • What is the source of income of the mayor’s wife?
- • Does the mayor have any connection with the petrol station located at the intersection of Oxford and Half-Way-Tree Road?
- • Does any public agency have an exclusive arrangement to purchase fuel from that station?
- • What amount of petrol is supplied to that agency?
Public servants are required to provide information on all personal assets, liabilities and income including those of his spouse and children living with him at any time during the period of declaration and should include assets whether held locally or abroad.
Under the Corruption Prevention Act where a public servant owns assets disproportionate to his lawful earnings and upon being requested by the Commission or any person duly authorized to investigate an allegation of corruption against him to provide an explanation as to how he came by such assets and he fails to do so; or gives an explanation which is not considered to be satisfactory he shall be liable to prosecution for the offence of illicit enrichment and upon conviction thereof to the penalty specified in section 15 (1).
This is looking very fishy
Yes, the Mayor must respond to these questions with utmost clarity and transparency. There is a problem if you did not have all these assets before becoming Mayor. Where is all this fortune coming from. This is not racket science, neither is envy - just ensuring that everyone is playing by the rules. We need a robust and strident manager with the determination of a Gregory Christie to look into the issue of public servants enriching themselves. This should include policemen, teachers, nurses, custom officers etc.
I not sure if the Sunday Herald can probe Skeng Don and Danhai as much as it can with the Mayor and Peter Bunting. The Mayor and Peter are elected public officials. Was Peter an elected public official during the 90s or was he part of DB&G investment company?
Honest Reading???? what is ur point?? Skeng Don or Danhai is not obligated to disclose anything.. Peter Bunting was the shareholder of DB&G from which he made millions if my readings are correct… whats the point of ur questions anyway? The questions were asked of Mr. McKenzie and they are good questions in my view. are u suggesting that Mr. Mckenzie should answer the way u did above or should he come clean and answer the questions posed??
By the way good article again SUNDAY HERALD..
Honest readings,
Am i to understand then that you are putting the mayor in the same category as the “Dons” mentioned in your comments and that they/he should be judged similarly?
Also sunday HERALD I want you to follow up on the annual salary of PNP peter BUNTING. How did Bunting became a BILLIONAIRE during the economic decline of the financial meltdown of the 1990s.?
Also investigate the multimillion dollar contracts offered to skeng don of Black Brothers enterprise. This man is said to be ILITERATE - cannot read or write but commands millions of the state resources. I wonder what type of house he is living in? Herald do think its SQUALLOR?
Also Herald do an investigation on Danhai Williams the man who got numerous contracts with up front millions of dollars without doing any work “OPERATION PRIDE”. This man was able to spend millions on his dancehall queen CARLENE on parties ? So herald show the house that Danhai Williams lives in PLEASE I want to see it
Remember that other companies made millions during the 90’s for instance JMMB, Capital and Credit merchant, Pan Caribbean as well as Dehring Bunting and Golding. It was the loans that the banks issued that made it difficult for them. Do your research.
typical.brash and belligerent. The article was speaking about the responsibilities of PUBLIC officials not private individuals. spit out the bile and get real.
Jamaica clearly is slow to, and will for a long time, refuse to make any efforts to develop a commitment to transparency/ auditing of government contractors and ministers, as too many in the system, including the ministers themselves, benefit from the kickbacks made possible by this lack of transparency.
The system is rotten from top to bottom and inside out, and year after year, none of the political parties will take steps to close the gaps, as these gaps are too lucrative to close.
How can a a country begin to correct the deficiencies/ gaps within, when it has no system in place to correctly measure and quantify the extent of those gaps? If you want to fix something, don’t you need to know to what extent/ degree it’s broken? How much money is invested in data management -updating, maintaining and monitoring- by way of a statistics bureau to measure, tract and fix anything which happens in the country?
No Jamaican politician wants to see such a “functioning” bureau in place, as it would reflect all the kickbacks, lack of proper audits, financial outlays, etc, and they all stand to lose by its very existence.