In a Tribune exclusive it was reported that Housing Minister Kenneth Russell confirmed during the PLP administration $7 million was borrowed from the National Insurance Board without following proper procedures.
Russell said this was able to occur because the Minister of Housing was also the Minister of National Insurance. The Tribune article quoted the minister who said” It was discovered there was alot of room for the same thing to happen between the Housing and Mortgage Corporation.” Russell said the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation (BMC) should be removed from the Ministry of Housing portfolio.
According to The Tribune article BMC has confirmed that there are currently 12 homes in six government subdivisions that are occupied without a mortgage and that there were over 100 unregularised homes in 2007 when the FNM took administration.
In an article in The Nassau Guardian Minister Russell said that people who are occupying government-built houses without conveyances must get a mortgage or get out. The NG article quoted the minister, “It is wrong to have one person paying for the house and the next person living free.”
