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Gonzales: More Cepep lawsuits coming

PNM chairman and Arouca/Lopinot MP Marvin Gonzales says the party will be initiating additional legal action with respect to the recent termination of workers from Cepep. He claimed while the UNC has dismissed these workers it is secretly arranging for contractors and workers from its constituencies to get Cepep jobs. He made these statements during an interview on CCN TV6’s Morning Edition programme on July 14. After a meeting between PNM parliamentarians and hundreds of Cepep contractors at the Lisas Gardens Community Centre, Couva, on June 29, Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles said the party will take legal action against the government on behalf of the Cepep workers. Beckles, who is also PNM political leader, said the opposition will consider similar action for other workers who are now being targeted for dismissal by the UNC since it won the April 28 general election. These include forestry workers and workers in the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP). On July 2, Gonzales and Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi condemned the firing of 4,608 workers and contractors from the National Reforestation and Watershed Programme. On July 13, Rural Development and Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen claimed there was a feeding frenzy in the URP before the election. On July 9, she dismissed claims by Al-Rawi that government planned to fire 5,000 URP. Al-Rawi, who also attended the meeting with Cepep contractors on June 29, said, “The pieces of (legal) action will include every range possible. Class action is not the only intended action.” He added, “There will be individual actions – there is High Court, there is Industrial Court, there is public law, there is constitutional law.” Asked about the legal action the PNM plans to take with respect to the Cepep dismissals, Gonzales said, ‘”The first claim was filed in court last week injunction hearing will be this Friday (July 18).” On July 9, an application for breach of contract between Eastman Enterprise Ltd (EEL) and Cepep was filed in the Port of Spain High Court by attorney Kareem Marcelle who is also the PNM Laventille West MP. A subsequent order issued by the court on the same day said the matter will be heard virtually by Justice Margaret Mohammed on July 18. Cepep is being represented in this matter by attorney Jared Jagroo of Freedom Law Chambers. Gonzales disclosed the PNM is looking at other avenues to take legal action against the government. “This week we intend to file additional claims in court to take issue with the government on how they are handling this particular matter and to defend the lives of thousands of people who are now on the breadline.” Gonzales accepted the right of an incoming government to review programmes which it inherited from its predecessor. But he repeated the PNM’s view that no responsible government would engage in restructuring a programme like Cepep in the manner in which the UNC seems to be doing. Gonzales said Trinidad and Tobago is a small place and information gets around. He claimed, “A number of people have been called by executives of UNC constituencies all over TT where they are registering their contractors and registering their workers.” Against this background, Gonzales continued, the UNC cannot accuse the PNM of political nepotism. “You are doing that on one end and on the other end, you are accusing the PNM of the worst possible things.” Gonzales asked, “Why is it only in UNC constituencies or UNC executives, they are calling contractors and they are giving certain contractors...not engaged in any transparent procurement process...to register contractors?” He claimed the UNC is doing these actions to satisfy the members of the “coalition of interests” (COI) which it created to win the election. Members of the COI include trade unions such as the Public Services Association and the Oilfields Workers Trade Union and the Progressive Empowerment Party. Gonzales said, “This so called restructuring is about ensuring that they deliver and they deliver political blood for the people who would have been responsible for putting them in office.” He recalled during last month’s Mid-Year Review of the 2024/2025 budget in the House of Representatives, government gave no indication it planned to terminate Cepep workers. Gonzales said $60 million was approved at that time for Cepep and there is no evidence to suggest the estimated 320 contractors in Cepep were affiliated to the PNM. He recalled when the PNM assumed office after the September 7, 2015 election, it inherited a situation where some Cepep contracts were extended for periods of two-three years by its UNC predecessor before the election. Gonzales said those contracts were allowed to continue to their respective ends. In response, Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath said, “Gonzales should not judge the UNC based on the corrupt standards of the PNM.” Padarath is the line minister for Cepep. He added, “We have promised a transparent system and we will keep that commitment to the population.” Padarath described Gonzales’ statements as “a reflection of his party – dishonest and puerile.” Rural Development and Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen agreed with Padarath. “It’s nonsense. Until Marvin Gonzales can tell the population how many of his close relatives, friends and PNM constituency executive members had Cepep and WASA (Water and Sewerage) contracts, he has no moral authority to make any public utterance on this issue.” Ameen is the line minister for the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP). The post Gonzales: More Cepep lawsuits coming appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.