The Prime Minister must now decide if she wants to work out of Whitehall.
This, after Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Barry Padarath revealed some of the challenges he saw at Whitehall while there on Monday morning.
00:00First day in office and the Public Utilities Minister and the Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Barry Podarath, raised several concerns about the physical structure at Whitehall.
00:10In a telephone interview with TV6, Mr. Podarath told us he was shocked to see the condition of the Office of the Prime Minister.
00:17Major parts of the facility at Whitehall, particularly the Cabinet Secretariat, has had to be relocated to another facility that is not on the same compound as Whitehall.
00:31It's actually in St. Clay.
00:34Now, the Cabinet Secretariat really is the hub of driving the operations of the Cabinet and the Prime Minister's work.
00:41And with that office not being functional because of the structural damage.
00:48When asked about some of the damages seen in the area where the Cabinet Secretariat functions, he had this to see.
00:55They have had floods over the past couple months that has really impacted on the facility itself.
01:05There is mould and that in itself is a health hazard for the employees as well as visitors and occupiers of Whitehall.
01:15So it seems to be that there are parts of it that is in a major state of disrepair.
01:20The Public Utilities Minister wondered what the former administration did while they went government for the last 10 years.
01:27Because so much money would have been spent to refurbish Whitehall and today it remains part of it unoccupied because it is dysfunctional.
01:38So that is the state of play right now.
01:41As I said, we were quite shocked and surprised coming in to find out that there were so many issues.
01:46Because none of this was ever shared with the public over the past couple of years and months leading up to the general election.
01:53No one ever knew. So this was a situation at the Office of the Prime Minister has been clouded in secrecy in terms of the poor management and maintenance of these facilities,
02:04especially knowing that so many millions of public funds were spent.
02:09But in terms of it being a state of readiness, the Utilities Minister said he would have to consult with the Prime Minister moving forward and she will make the necessary decision.
Be the first to comment