- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 05/Aug 03:37

Al-Rawi slams PM's 'grass cutter' claims

OPPOSITION Senator Faris Al-Rawi has slammed Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's claims the PNM used Cepep to turn TT into a nation of grass cutters. He also questioned statements by Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath, Cepep's line minister, that an audit into the programme could take six months. At a budget consultation in her Siparia constituency on July 29, she said, "I am very much against the whole structuring of Cepep, the URP and the (National) Reafforestation (programme)." She repeated claims made about corruption in Cepep and asked, "You really want gangs?" She said Cabinet had met to discuss Cepep. Persad-Bissessar added government was considering how people formerly employed in Cepep could be placed into programmes in which they could learn a skill and then be transitioned into more sustainable employment. "We give them a stipend and let them learn something to transition out (of Cepep). How long you want to be cutting grass for? We have become a nation of grass-cutters under the PNM." She added, "Cepep cutting grass, URP cutting grass, reafforestation cutting grass when you supposed to be planting trees." Persad-Bissessar claimed the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the National Gas Company were also involved in grass-cutting. She said some UNC supporters were angry with her and government because they felt "we should just replace the Cepep and the URP." Persad-Bissessar disagreed with that view. She claimed Cepep, as currently structured, offered criminals the possibility of infiltrating Cepep gangs for their own benefits. So it is not that we are vicious. It is not that we are racist. This is for everybody." Persad-Bissessar added, "I cannot in good conscience continue that programme. We have to restructure." Speaking to reporters after signing a condolence book for Independent Senator Deoroop Teemal who died on August 3, Al-Rawi said, "We heard the Prime Minister speak of dissatisfaction with Cepep, URP and forestry as a nation of grass cutters from a programme which started since 1992." He recalled that during Persad-Bissessar's first administration from May 2010-September 2015, approximately $720 million was spent on Cepep between 2014-2015. "It certainly wasn't a nation of grass cutters for the five years, three months and 14 days she prevailed over them." Al-Rawi said it was against this background he was a little surprised about Padarath's comment about the Cepep audit taking six months to complete. He added since assuming office on April 28, the UNC has shifted its reasons for not continuing certain programmes like Cepep. Al-Rawi listed them as jobs for PNM supporters, unsubstantiated claims, alleged gang activity and "a nation of grass cutters." He added, "It really begs the question. On what basis did you fire 11,000 people within weeks of coming into office?" He reminded reporters some 30,000 people had become unemployed since the UNC won the April 28 general election. Al-Rawi said some people might not be able to access the types of jobs the UNC envisioned and Cepep addressed that. In 2017, he continued, the PNM was able to restructure Cepep without suspending its operations and there was a cabinet note to prove that. Al-Rawi repeated that the PNM had taken legal action to defend both Cepep contractors and workers. As rural development and local government minister in the former PNM government, Al-Rawi was briefly line minister for Cepep. He repeated the PNM's position that if the government believed there was wrongdoing in any programme under its purview, it should report the matter to the relevant authorities and let the chips fall where they may. (With reporting by Paula Lindo) The post Al-Rawi slams PM's 'grass cutter' claims appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.