Landlord breaks silence on 5th District Resource Centre controversy!
Mrs. Christopher speaking at her campaign launch on October 7, 2011 in Huntums Ghut said that she had vacated the premises as was the agreement with the landlord, however, Mr. Todman is claiming that there was no such agreement.
Addressing the matter of the centre, which she said she could have handled “a little differently”, Mrs. Christopher said “to get my initiative started and make the plan work I rented an apartment, 3-bedroom apartment. I begged several businesses to donate. The response was positive and six computers were donated. At the end of my term we had to vacate the premises as was the agreement with the landlord.”
But according to Mr. Todman, he never told her nor was there any agreement that she had to vacate the premises and added that he did not even know that she had removed the items from the centre and only knew that she was moving when she gave up the keys. “I never had a talk with her before. I never told her she had to move out and only knew about it after she had already moved out the things from the place. She told me she had lost the elections so she was giving up the centre and had moved out her belongings,” Mr. Todman said in an exclusive interview with Virgin Islands News Online.
He further said that sometime after he was approached by Mrs. Christopher, who said she wanted back the place to rent but he had told her that someone else had already expressed an interest in it and he had gave them his word of agreement.
Mr. Todman said that the issue has caused him some embarrassment and would like her to tell the public the truth. “I even told her the other day that I was very disappointed in her because what she is saying is not the truth.”
Meanwhile, the incumbent representative, Hon. Harrigan, had also expressed disappointment with the action by Mrs. Christopher to remove the computers from the centre and noted that one of the first things he had to immediately correct when elected, even before setting up his own office in the House of Assembly, “was to replace all the computers in the Resource Centre”.
“All 10 of them, the desks, the chairs, reading books, art and craft materials, three air conditioned units…and I still don’t know where they are, the fridge the stove where our young people learn cooking and even the sign outside, my opponent and her cronies clean out the Resource Centre,” he recalled at his campaign launch on October 6, 2011.
“But it seems that she lost all interest in our children when she lost the election to me and now want to start caring again…caring for our children is a continuous process that should never stop,” Hon. Harrigan pointed out. To this end, he proudly announced that he has renewed the lease for the Resource Centre for another four years.
Mrs. Christopher had said at her campaign launch that six computers were donated to the centre and she had given them away. “I donated the computers and some furnishings to a school in the district and other persons in the district and gave the books to the YEP centre up at East End.”
Mrs. Christopher added that she took her responsibility seriously especially with paying the rent for the building, however, she admitted that in retrospect she could have handled the situation “a little differently”. “I am woman enough to admit that but we always have the benefit of hindsight.”
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