{"id":90893,"date":"2025-08-22T14:07:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T14:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=90893"},"modified":"2025-08-22T14:07:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T14:07:54","slug":"pac-questions-sudden-rise-in-yea-rent-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=90893","title":{"rendered":"PAC questions sudden rise in YEA rent payments"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 21 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has questioned the substantive increase of significant increase in rent payments made by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) between 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>According to the 2024 Auditor-General\u2019s Report, the Agency spent \u20b55.5 million on rent in 2024, compared to \u20b53.2 million in 2023, representing more than a 72 percent jump.<\/p>\n<p>When asked to explain the rise, management of YEA attributed it to a decision by the Ministry of Works and Housing to hand over management of the building to a private company, K&#038;A, which now serves as facility manager.<\/p>\n<p>Committee members, however, demanded clarity on the arrangement. During the session, one member pressed YEA officials on whether they knew K&#038;A or had engaged them directly.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/RENT-INCREASE.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n<p>The YEA team responded: \u201cWe know K&#038;A as a facility manager but we didn\u2019t engage K&#038;A. The agreement is between K&#038;A and Works and Housing.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"828\" height=\"455\"src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762.png\" alt=\"PAC questions sudden rise in YEA rent payments\" class=\"wp-image-10032831810\" title=\"PAC questions sudden rise in YEA rent payments\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762.png 828w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-768x422.png 768w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-546x300.png 546w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-233x128.png 233w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-150x82.png 150w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-218x120.png 218w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-772x424.png 772w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-330x181.png 330w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-225x124.png 225w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-217x119.png 217w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-340x187.png 340w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-273x150.png 273w, https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1762-55x30.png 55w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 828px) 100vw, 828px\"><\/figure>\n<p>PAC members were concerned about who exactly was receiving the payments. The Chair asked: \u201cWhom were you paying the money to? Was it to Works and Housing or K&#038;A?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>YEA officials confirmed that payments were made directly to K&#038;A.<\/p>\n<p>The Committee insisted on further documentation to establish transparency in the transaction. \u201cThe rent should be going to the Ministry. If you could provide this committee with some traces that indicate that K&#038;A paid this rent money to the Ministry, I think it will be of help\u2026 fetch a copy of the tenancy agreement or whatever MOU they have so we can understand fully what the arrangement is,\u201d the Chair directed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-1\" post-id=\"90893\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/happy.svg\" alt=\"Happy\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Happy                    <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                     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src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/surprise.svg\" alt=\"Surprise\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">Surprise<\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1763-150x150.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"PAC questions sudden rise in YEA rent payments\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PAC questions sudden rise in YEA rent payments\">The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has questioned the substantive increase of significant increase in rent payments made by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) between 2023 and 2024.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1883,10,9,7095,7096,4088],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-public-accounts-committee-pac","category-rent-payments","category-yea"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/90894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}