As the government continues to review employment programmes like the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) and the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), Minister of Public Utilities and Member of Parliament for Couva South, Barry Padarath, says it will not be business as usual.
Speaking at a pre-budget consultation at the Couva South Multi-Purpose Hall on Wednesday, he said the new administration is taking a different approach after learning that criminal elements have infiltrated temporary employment programmes and are using them to fuel criminal activity.
“When you elected us on April 28th, you elected us to do things differently, and therefore, when some of you are saying to us, ‘Well, we want back the CEPEP, and we want back the URP,’ and so on, you have to contextualise that, and contextualising it means that if we go back down the same road as the PNM did by hiring friends, financiers, and family within these programmes, you keep the criminals in there, then you have to continue living in these self-imposed jails because these contracts are fuelling criminality and crime in the country.”
Mr. Padarath said the issue can no longer be ignored. He explained that fixing the nation’s crime problem also requires tackling the flow of funding to criminal networks embedded in State programmes.
“The Commissioner of Police has said very frontally that the criminal elements in these programmes are fuelling the levels of crime that we are seeing across the length and breadth of this country.”
Minister Padarath acknowledged that citizens are looking for jobs but insisted the government’s plan must be grounded in sustainability, not short-term employment or political favouritism.
He revealed that discussions are already underway to reshape CEPEP and URP into transitional programmes that align with the country’s long-term development goals.
“Our vision for you is not for you and your children to cut and rake grass for the rest of their lives. It must be that we must create sustainable jobs in the spheres of agriculture, in the spheres of artificial intelligence, technology. It cannot be that we are myopic and we are telling you, well we happy that you all will just continue to do like the PNM and turn up in public meetings in your yellow jersey and then cut grass for two hours in the morning.”
Minister Padarath said while difficult decisions are ahead, the administration remains committed to fixing what it inherited and its first national budget since taking up office is expected to reflect that shift.