Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Hous­ing Phillip Alexan­der has de­fend­ed the Gov­ern­ment’s award of $3.4 bil­lion in pub­lic hous­ing con­tracts to 11 con­trac­tors, push­ing back against con­cerns raised by for­mer hous­ing min­is­ter Camille Robin­son-Reg­is over trans­paren­cy in the process.

Speak­ing with re­porters out­side Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day, Alexan­der in­sist­ed that the pro­cure­ment process was con­duct­ed in ac­cor­dance with es­tab­lished laws and pro­ce­dures.

“I’m not sure where the lack of trans­paren­cy would come in be­cause we op­er­ate un­der the pro­cure­ment leg­is­la­tion, so every­thing has to be trans­par­ent and above board,” he said. “I’m not sure about the two days that she’s ask­ing about. Again, that seems to be split­ting hairs. I hon­est­ly be­lieve that that is ar­gu­ing for ar­gu­ing’s sake.”