URP never meant to be permanent employment

Speaking to the media at his Kent House office in Maraval yesterday, Local Government Minister, Senator Rennie Dumas, said it was never Government’s intention for persons employed with the URP to remain there permanently.

The URP, he said, was just meant to "tide over" an unfortunate period of unemployment until gainful employment was found. The minister was responding to questions on the recent refusal by Prime Minister Patrick Manning to increase URP workers wages. Dumas said one had to exercise the will and effort to get ahead because success did not come without effort.

On the issue of criminal elements in the URP, Dumas said the URP was a national programme which provided employment for thousands. However, he said there were people who felt they had influence, which they exercised. Dumas said the Local Government Ministry had the responsibility of keeping the programme legitimate and clean. He said money was put in place to treat with an area that had been neglected by the UNC.

He said the PNM took people who had been referred to as "unemployable" by Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, and recruited them to clean up our "nasty" neighbourhoods.

Referring to recent talks about the importation of labour, Dumas said the PNM had created thousands of jobs and had opened up opportunities for interested persons to be trained in a variety of skills. However, he added, these workers are not enough to satisfy the demand for skilled labour and it may become necessary to import labour from our "neighbours."

The minister said he had no problems with recent developments to unionise CEPEP workers, because "every group of workers has the right to join a union." He also expressed his disagreement with the way in which some of the regional corporations were managing resources allotted to them, adding that there was much room for improvement.

He said the ministry had provided funds to the corporations and that there were still instances in which the funds were unused to date. According to Dumas, the disbursement of funds was guided by the Municipal Act and a schedule of responsibilities outlined by the Prime Minister. "All problems cannot be dealt with at the same time from the same dollar," he said, adding that every activity, whether developmental or maintenance, was therefore scheduled. He said the Ministry of Local Government, having put money into the local government body, also had to build the administrative structure because a number of these bodies had difficulty spending the money wisely.

As a result, the administrative capacity and the finances to manage those projects all have to be aligned, Dumas said.