THE Government last night plunged further into a deepening crisis over the purchase of a tourist attraction in Trelawny by its main mortgage lender, the National Housing Trust (NHT).

This was the case as Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s answers to questions tabled in the House of Representatives a week earlier by Opposition Leader Andrew Holness raised more alarms and contradictions, instead of shedding light on grim suspicions about the purchase.

The House almost broke down into another of its famous uproars as Government and Opposition members exchanged loud barbs, almost drowning the speakers during the debate.

However, the situation was well managed by a very alert Speaker Michael Peart. The members also seemed wary of creating a disturbance in front of a gallery filled with students from the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication and Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College.

Opposition speakers sought to deflect ominous claims of dishonesty from the prime minister to the board of the NHT.

The proceedings started with the prime minister strolling into the chamber, just as the House considered delaying its Question Time to accommodate her late entrance.

It picked up quickly as she started her answers with the alarming disclosure that “the NHT has not purchased the business known as Outameni Experience”.

Her presentation was halted as Leader of Opposition Business Derrick Smith rose and informed the Speaker that Opposition members had not received their copies of the answers to the questions, as required under the standing orders.

Confirming the omission, Leader of the House Phillip Paulwell called for a five-minute break to allow the orderlies to produce copies for the Opposition.

When Simpson Miller resumed, she expanded on her answer, stating that she had been advised by the board of the NHT that their decision to purchase the property at Orange Grove in Trelawny, and not the attraction known as Outameni Experience, “was firmly grounded in the National Housing Trust Act of 1979”.

She said that the NHT did not acquire the “assets, goodwill or brand associated with the Outameni Experience, save and except for the standby generator, a fuel tank and office furniture”.

“Was the intention of the NHT to develop this property to build houses, yes or no?” Holness asked.

Simpson Miller said that the laws governing the NHT were quite clear, that it is to provide houses, social services and investments. Holness asked whether the 10 acres purchased in the project, which would have cost $18 million per acre, were intended to build houses for the poor.

The question triggered a prolonged uproar, after which the prime minister explained that it was prime real estate where houses and tourist attractions could be created through partnership with the private sector.

She said that she has no authority to instruct the NHT what to do. “They are governed by their Act, but I will protect the interest of the Trust and the people of Jamaica,” she said.

However, Holness said that he was amazed at the response, because the prime minister’s duty is to give policy direction to the NHT. Simpson Miller said that she did not become aware of the purchase of the estate by the NHT until she read it in the press on October 30 this year.

The minutes of NHT board meetings showed that the board approved the purchase in December 2012 and actually made the payment in March 2013 to Capital and Credit Merchant Bank.

Simpson Miller said that board informed her that, in addition to the statutory mandate of the NHT to add to and improve the existing supply of housing and enhance the usefulness of funds, the Act also allows it to provide finance for social services and physical infrastructure for communities it has developed and to administer and invest Trust funds.

She said that she was informed that the NHT board was exploring the possibility of acquiring and operating the investment, as an educational, cultural, heritage and tourist attraction.

She instructed the board to explore ways of using the property for social and physical infrastructure to enhance the quality of life and for the entertainment of NHT contributors, Jamaicans and visitors.

The prime minister said that she was aware that the auditor general has advised of her intention to conduct an audit of the transaction.

She said that a feasibility study will also be done in respect of Outameni before the likely purchase of the attraction’s intellectual property for some $20 million.

Holness assured the prime minister that the Opposition was not questioning her integrity in the issue.

Opposition spokesman on finance Audley Shaw said that he had to assume that the prime minister was misled by the NHT board, as it was not just the property which was purchased but the Outameni Experience as well.

“The only issue that appears to be a grey area, in terms of the purchase of the property, is related to items referred to as chattels,” Shaw said, reading from a submission from the former NHT managing director to the board on the issue.

“The National Housing Trust is not the Ministry of Tourism.

They cannot run a tourism pageant on that property…,” Simpson Miller responded. Holness reiterated that the attempt by the previous Administration to assist the Outameni project did not include any plans to sell the attraction.

Opposition MP Daryl Vaz criticised the board for being “dishonest, contemptuous and untruthful” in giving the impression, up to yesterday, that it had purchased the attraction for development as a profitable investment. After the sitting, Vaz told the Observer: “The NHT chairman and the board, in their various utterances to the media and the public at large, have been very clear, including speaking to the financial projections of the new ‘outamoney’ venture, that it is more than just the land that has been acquired, and they, therefore, have misled and embarrassed our prime minister, which is unacceptable.”

He repeated a position he had articulated earlier in the House, saying he was willing to support the calls being made for the withholding of all NHT contributions until the entire board of the NHT is removed.

“I have no reason to question the prime minister’s explanation in Parliament, which will therefore confirm that the NHT board has misled, not only the prime minister, but the contributors and the country at large,” Vaz said.

“There will be some persons who question the legality of such an action, but the Jamaican people also question the legality of the ‘outamoney’ deal and, therefore, until that is clarified, it is fair game,” he added.

“I call on the prime minister to take immediate action in order to restore confidence in not only her, but her Administration,” he said. Vaz also said that based on the prime minister’s acknowledgement that the auditor general intends to probe the purchase, the private sector has grounds to withhold NHT contributions withdrawn from their employees’ salaries until after the investigation.