Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has described State Boards and CEOs at State Enterprises as “runaway horses.”
Mrs. Persad-Bissessar was speaking at Post Cabinet Media Briefing when she made the comment.
“State Boards and CEOs, do you know? They paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in the days between election day and election night and the day Ministers were installed, and some are still continuing so to do without a proper mandate from the people. They also engaged in sending out RFPs, in entering contracts, in creating new contracts without any guidance. Some of them are runaway horses. We have to reign them in; we have to bring them in. Why? Not because we hate anybody or dislike because we have to look after the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar added that there is a present freeze on advertising and hiring at State Enterprises.
“Not be excessive government spending on advertising when there are people who cannot buy a meal. They cannot afford a bottle of baby milk for their children. I have frozen all government hiring and issuing of government contracts just for a time until we get the new Boards installed, and we look at what has happened and the best way forward.”