Coalition MP collected $5.7M for construction of pig pen using unregistered association

Jan 25, 2021 News

The incomplete pig pen (Photo Credit: Department of Public Information)

Kaieteur News – It has been revealed that Jermaine Figueira, an A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Member of Parliament (MP), collected $5.7M to construct and extend pig pens in Linden via a co-operative society that was never officially registered.

Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton

APNU+AFC Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira

This was disclosed by the Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, who spoke to Kaieteur News yesterday.
According to Hamilton, Figueira’s association, the Green Jaguar Environmental and Community Development Co-operative Society, was handed the funds in 2019 to construct the pig pens which are part of a pig rearing project for the Wisroc community in Linden. It is one of the many community projects funded under the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) programme in 2019. The groups receiving project funding are required to be registered as Co-operative Societies before any disbursement is made. But Figuera’s company was never officially registered.
In fact, Hamilton said that the documents that were submitted by his “co-operative society” failed to meet the criteria. He said too that even though Figueira submitted an application to be registered, it was still pending when the funds were disbursed. To date, the co-operative society has not been registered by the Department of Co-operatives.
Hamilton’s claims were supported by documents, which were seen by this newspaper.The Minister also highlighted that the pig rearing project was being executed on private lands. Kaieteur News understands that the Minister even visited the area on Friday, last, where he got a first-hand view of how the moneys collected were being utilized. It was during this time that the official discovered that the project is incomplete.
On Saturday via a Facebook post, Figueira responded to Hamilton’s disclosures where he called them “wild, irresponsible and callous”. The young politician claimed that Hamilton’s utterances were intended to tarnish his reputation and gain “cheap political points”.
He also denied receiving any money, saying, “I take this opportunity to publicly state and make it absolutely clear, that I Jermaine Figueira, Member of Parliament for Region Ten, has never been the recipient of any disbursement of monies from the sustainable livelihood and entrepreneurial development (SLED) programme in 2019 or any other year for that matter”.
But his claim of not receiving any funds was contradicted by documents seen by Kaieteur News, which clearly outlines that Figueira was the contact person, coordinator, recipient of the money and contractor for the project. A status report as of December 12, 2019, stated that the building was completed as well as the extended section for the pigs. It was found following a visit by the Minister that the doors for the extended section were not sturdy, there was no drainage system built for the wastewater, there was a wooden beam that needed reinforcement to support it, and no pigs were in the pens as yet.
The very document also showed that he received an interim payment on July 19, 2019, at the tune of $3.1M. The report also showed that the final payment was collected.
Figueira has since asked Minister Hamilton to withdraw the “character assassination” and the “malicious article” that was published regarding the same issue. He has also demanded a front-page apology or he will take legal action against Hamilton and those media entities, which published his statements.
Figueira’s association is among several in different regions that has not been officially registered by the Department of Co-operatives but have received funds for projects under the SLED programme.

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