Mohamed’s Enterprise has rejected as “petty” and “frivolous” claims by Chief Fire Officer Gregory Wickham that the Guyana Fire Service headquarters has suffered from structural and plumbing deficiencies since it was occupied.
Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, whose company constructed the $614.5 million Homestretch Avenue building, told Kiskadee Watch yesterday that minor defects had been addressed during the defects-liability period. He suggested that the Fire Chief’s public criticism was prompted by an earlier post from his son, Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed about the working conditions of firefighters.
The dispute began after the younger Mohamed alleged on his Team Mohamed Facebook page that firefighters were using buckets because toilets and urinals at the headquarters were not functioning. He also accused the government of routinely using Fire Service personnel and equipment to deliver water to state facilities and to water President Irfaan Ali’s land.
“President Irfaan uses the Guyana Fire Service to soak his land daily while the Fire Service Headquarters don’t have water to flush the toilets,” Azruddin Mohamed alleged.
He claimed that the watering exercise used approximately 14,000 litres and could take more than an hour. He argued that an irrigation system should be installed instead of assigning the task to firefighters.
Mohamed said firefighters had complained that they were also frequently required to deliver water to police stations, ministries, the Command Centre and the conference centre. He said ranks did not object to assisting where necessary but were concerned that the frequency of the assignments was placing an additional burden on an understaffed service.
“When firefighters are exhausted or Fire Service resources are being used for non-emergency duties, what happens when a real emergency occurs?” he asked.
He also alleged that firefighters who sat promotional examinations more than a year ago were awaiting their results and promotions and were afraid to speak publicly because of possible victimisation.
In a video response, Wickham said the Fire Service and the Ministry of Home Affairs paid close attention to the welfare, health and safety of ranks. He acknowledged, however, that the headquarters had experienced several problems from the time it was occupied.
“From the moment we began occupying this structure, our headquarters at Homestretch Avenue, we have encountered several deficiencies and several issues that, over time, we had to be fixing in order to ensure that our staff have a good working environment,” he said.
Wickham listed a leaking roof, cracks in walls and glass, and recurring problems with plumbing and fixtures in the lavatories among the defects.
“Ever so often, we had to be effecting repairs over the years,” he said, before stressing that the building had been constructed by Mohamed’s Enterprise.
According to Wickham, after the defects were observed over time, the Fire Service and the Ministry of Home Affairs invited new bids for remedial work. He said the successful contractor began work on August 6, 2026, to replace, rather than merely repair, the facilities in the washroom areas.
“That is a work in progress,” he said.
The Fire Chief said concerns raised by staff had been addressed and acted upon. He also pointed to the acquisition of personal protective equipment, breathing apparatus and new fire tenders, as well as the expansion of the service to more than 20 stations across the country.
Wickham did not address Mohamed’s allegations about firefighters watering the President’s land, delivering water to government agencies, staffing shortages or delays in releasing promotional examination results.
Several years ago
Contacted by Kiskadee Watch, the elder Mohamed said the building had been constructed several years ago and was completed within one or two months of the contractual period before being handed over.
“There were minor defects because you would get like a year to correct everything—minor defects, mostly with washrooms,” he said.
Mohamed argued that plumbing problems were not unusual in a building accommodating large numbers of workers and visitors.
“You are talking about a place that has over a hundred workers, and they would go to the washroom multiple times. People would visit that place; they would use the washrooms. You have a simple house and four of you living inside and you get plumbing problems,” he said.
“Much less people using the washrooms maybe 300, 500, maybe 1,000 times a day; there will be problems, there will be issues.”
He suggested that Wickham’s statement was connected to his son’s publicising of the complaints by firefighters.
“For them to come out now, at this time, just because Azruddin Mohamed highlighted what is going on with the workers at the Fire Service…
Responding to the reported cracks, Nazar Mohamed said Guyana’s coastal soil type could create construction problems. He also said that he had objected to the use of three-inch blocks in parts of the building.
“I told the engineers, I protested. I said, ‘Listen, we cannot use three-inch blocks on this building because when you cut it to put in electrical work—one inch—then you are left with two inches and there will be issues with cracks,’” he said.
“These are frivolous things, I must say.”
Mohamed said he was unaware of cracked glass but noted that heavy fire tenders regularly entered the compound and could contribute to some problems.
“These are all petty claims that they have made, three years or four years after this fire station was handed over,” he added.
The elder Mohamed also sought to separate his son from Mohamed’s Enterprise, saying the company was established before Azruddin was born and that he had no role in it.
“Azruddin has nothing to do with Mohamed’s Enterprise, absolutely nothing,” he said, adding that the company traded in gold while his son had operated as a gold miner for approximately 17 years.
Azruddin Mohamed similarly told Kiskadee Watch that he had nothing to do with the construction of the headquarters. He said that he had advised his father against tendering for government contracts, but the elder Mohamed proceeded to do so.
Full circle
Former Public Works minister David Patterson, meanwhile, said the controversy had “come full circle” and questioned why defects were being publicised years after the building was inspected and accepted.
Patterson on his Facebook page noted that Wickham, accompanied by engineers, contractors and senior Fire Service officers, conducted a walkthrough of the building on March 4, 2023, shortly before the keys were handed over.
“The Chief Fire Officer then sat in his office for three years and now somehow thinks that it is a brilliant idea to make a post about defects on a building he personally inspected and accepted,” Patterson said in a Facebook post.
A March 2023 report by Stabroek News said Wickham and the team conducted the walkthrough to assess the progress of the works. The lead engineer said at the time that the building was 95% complete and was expected to be handed over by the end of that month.
The Ministry of Home Affairs awarded Mohamed’s Enterprise the contract in November 2021. Construction was expected to begin by December 1 that year and be completed within 14 months. Twelve bids had been submitted, and the engineer’s estimate was $648.6 million. Questions were raised at the time about the company’s experience in executing a project of that scale.
A further controversy arose in 2024 when NPTAB’s tender-opening records showed a bid of $858.7 million from Mohamed’s Enterprise. NPTAB subsequently attributed that figure to a possible typographical error and said the company’s actual bid was $614,521,774, approximately $34 million below the engineer’s estimate.
NPTAB had said the Ministry of Home Affairs later approved additional works which increased the contract sum to $635,527,894. Mohamed’s Enterprise had maintained that it performed approximately $202 million in additional works but was not paid for most of them
The headquarters was formally commissioned in January 2025. Designed to accommodate more than 70 ranks, it includes space for eight fire tenders, six ambulances, male and female barracks, offices, a kitchen, laundry, gym and Emergency Medical Technician rooms.
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