Arthur: I never hired Guyanese
Stabroek News
March 1, 2003
(Barbados Nation) Prime Minister Owen Arthur said on Thursday he never hired any Guyanese, legal or illegal, to do work at his private residence.
More importantly, he told the Weekend Nation on Thursday, when Guyanese artisans built cupboards at his home, he was not even Prime Minister.
He spoke to the Weekend Nation on Thursday evening after Opposi-tion parliamentarian Senator Clyde Mascoll called for his resignation over a statement he made that he had conspired with Guyanese to break the law when they built cupboards at his home when they did not have permission from the Immigration Department to do so.
Arthur explained that in 1992, while he was a member of the Opposition, he hired contractor Golbourne Forde to build cupboards at his home in West Terrace, St James and Forde brought two workmen to the house to do the work.
“I never hired anyone from Guyana,” Arthur said. “I hired a contractor who brought two men who did exceptional work.
My recollection is that when they realised they were working at the home of an MP one of them, I am sure his name was Victor something, asked if I could help them to regularise their immigration status.
“I even wrote a letter to the Immigration Department on their behalf, but as far as I know, they never got through. I’m sure the Immigration Department’s record would verify this.”
Questioned about the Prime Minister’s disclosure, Forde confirmed he built the cupboards in 1992, adding that as a result of the high quality of the workmanship on that job, he was contracted to build cupboards for Glyne Murray, Mohammed Nassar and a manager at the Nation Publishing Company, among many others.
According to Arthur, proof that the work was not done recently could be found in the fact that the cupboards no longer existed, having been demolished when the house was remodelled a few years ago.
