Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has confirmed that financial corruption has occurred in Grenada’s post-Hurricane Beryl housing reconstruction efforts, though he emphasized that the issue is not widespread.
“I am sure that with any government programme from time to time you may have mistakes or you may have issues that need addressing,” Mitchell said during his weekly “DMs with the PM” talk show on Tuesday. “But as far as I am aware there is no widespread corruption, no systematic corruption in any of these instances.”
The prime minister admitted there have been challenges with some contractors awarded rebuilding contracts after Hurricane Beryl devastated the country’s northern region on July 1 last year. He said many of the problems stem from poor financial management by contractors working under fixed-term agreements issued by the Ministry of Mobilisation, Implementation and Transformation or the Ministry of Housing.
“I have said that repeatedly with many of the contractors because in many of the instances, the ability to manage their money, the ability to have the type of financial literacy that is required, is sometimes not there,” Mitchell said, though he did not detail specific instances of wrongdoing.
He explained that some contractors may not have properly accounted for fixed labor costs under the terms of their contracts.
“If you give a contractor a fixed price contract, say EC$75,000 to build or EC$85,000 to build a ‘Build Back Better’ house, and he does not realise that he cannot pay his workers per day… he will quickly find himself running out of money and will be unable to build a home,” Mitchell said.
Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall recently revealed that audits will be conducted into several contractors who failed to complete housing projects under the Hurricane Beryl Response initiative. He said some contractors have simply abandoned worksites after receiving funds.
“I have heard one or two cases where contractors have started houses and disappeared,” Cornwall said. “I don’t really know [why], but I believe that the persons issuing the contracts to those contractors need to basically make sure that they vet these people properly.”
The Ministry of Mobilisation, Implementation and Transformation received EC$15 million under the 2024 supplementary budget to assist with the rebuilding effort, with an estimated EC$50,000 allocated per house.
Cornwall warned that all government funds must be accounted for and said anyone who misused public funds would face scrutiny.
“I want to put out a warning to persons who have collected government moneys and did not do what they should do with it,” he said. “We will have the Audit Department audit those things… [and] take the necessary steps to make sure you can account for the moneys you were given.”
