Dept. of Citizenship rented one tent for $10.5M

Sep 26, 2020 News

The Department of Citizenry under the previous APNU+AFC administration was paying $1.5M a month to rent a single tent for their office. This and other concerning details were shared by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira on Monday, during the consideration of estimates for the Citizenry and Immigration Department.

The rent the APNU+AFC paid $1.5M monthly to rent

The Minister indicated that due to COVID-19 and social distancing protocols, the department thought it necessary to retain the services of Starr Party Rentals to lease the tent at the beginning of March, 2020.
“They (Citizenry and Immigration Department) didn’t want too many people gathering in the building at one time, so they erected this tent outside of their office” the minister said.
When this publication visited the department’s office on Shiv Chanderpaul Drive yesterday afternoon, it discovered that the tent was an ordinary one, measuring about 30ft by 20ft, featuring a back wall and capable of holding about 50 people at a time. One section of the tent featured several seats while part served as a garage for a silver car.
In totality, the previous government would have expended $10.5M of taxpayers monies to rent the single tent for seven months; similarly sized and quality tents could be sourced online for US $1500 or GYD $300,000, one-fifth of the cost for the monthly rental. Minister Teixeira was noted that the contract for that rental service will be terminated at the end of this month.
Caption of photo: The tent the APNU+AFC paid $1.5M monthly to rent.
Photo saved as: tent 1

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