The Editor, Sir:

We refer to an article published in your newspaper of Sunday, April 2, 2017, headlined “Cash-Rich NHT escapes rationalisation plan”. We note the erroneous conclusion drawn by the writer both in the headline and at least at two other places in the article, neither of which are supported by the facts.

While the article covered a number of issues unrelated to the sensational headline, our response is being restricted to the headline and related contents in the article, as these seem to have emanated from the questions submitted to the Trust recently.

The facts are as follows:

On Monday March 20, 2017, the Trust received the following questions from the Observer:

Query:

We understand that the NHT is about to engage in a staff-reduction and restructuring excercise.

1. Please share with us the main changes planned in relation to this.

2. Please indicate what level of staff reduction is being considered and the approach to be taken (voluntary redundancy etc).

3. How is the structure of the Trust being rationalised/ reorganised and with what specific objectives?

Any response which can be provided this week would be appreciated.

On Thursday, March 23, 2017, the Trust sent the following sole response :

“There is no plan to engage in a staff-reduction exercise at this time”.

When the NHT’s response was being sent, the questions posed also accompanied it. There was therefore no doubt that the response from the Trust on March 23, 2017, was in respect of the media query of March 20, 2017.

The following critical observations must be made:

1. When the questions were submitted to the Trust on March 20, 2017, absolutely no mention was made of the Public Sector Transformation Project of the GOJ.

2. The specific context in which the questions were posed to the Trust were related to the “understanding” that “the NHT is about to engage in a staff-reduction and restructuring exercise”. We again emphasise that there was no reference to the Transformation Programme, whether directly or indirectly.

3. The NHT responded to the query based on the state of affairs which now exists in the organisation, and not based on any current or intended plans by the Public Sector Transformation Unit.

The NHT has no authority to speak on behalf of the Public Sector Transformation Unit, and neither did the Trust seek to do so in responding to the query of March 20, 2017.

We have found it necessary to contextualise the matter, as we believe the impression created by the offending sections could do irreparable damage to the NHT’s reputation. We also hope that the foregoing has served to clarify the situation for your readers who could possibly have been misled.

Sincerely

Corporate Communications Department

National Housing Trust

4 Park Boulevard

Kingston 5.