Manning not satisfied with PM Kamla's statement about cost of house

Patrick Manning is not interested in buying the home that he has described as "Kamla's Palace", which is still under construction in south Trinidad.

The Prime Minister offered to sell manning the property for $30 million. The former Prime Minister has claimed that the house is larger than the official residence of the PM and the diplomatic centre and is costing around $150 million.

However he has not produced any evidence to support his claim. And he is still demanding that Persad-Bissessar provide documents to prove that her house has the relevant approvals.

In a media release he said he would expect her "to accede to my request and willingly lay in the Parliament, for the scrutiny of the nation, all relevant approvals by the State for the construction for this extraordinary large building and compound."

Persad-Bissessar has produced the deeds, the approvals from the relevant authorities and bills showing that she has legal connections for water and electricity.

Read the story: PM produces the evidence to show house cost $3M, not $150M as claimed by Manning

Still Manning is suggesting that these are missing and wants her to provide "outline approval, final approval and approval building plans from Town and Country Planning; a copy of the certified deed of ownership of the property; as well as permission to build from the relevant Local Government authority, the Ministry of Works and Transport, the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission and the Water and Sewerage Authority."

In declining Persad-Bissessar's offer to buy the house for $30 million, the former PM said he has always lived a modest life and "I have never come anywhere near knowing that amount of dough." 

He said he "started in a humble way and (has returned)...after 39 years of public service, to the kind of modest environment from which I originated." 
  
Manning dismissed claims about the cost made by Persad-Bissessar, saying "it would take a simpleton to believe, as the Prime Minister claims, that this palatial looking residence has so far cost only three million dollars."

He suggested that instead of selling him the house Persad-Bissessar should get the state to acquire it. And he suggested that "drug money" might have been used to finance the structure which he said is now under "phenomenal construction."

Persad-Bissessar has dismissed Manning's insinuation and has promised to lay everything in Paarliament in the interest of transparency. She said the Speaker will decide on Wednesday whether to take action to censure Manning.

And she insisted, "My hands are clean and my heart is pure".