Ghost gangs ‘exorcised’ from URP

LOCAL GOVERNMENT Minister Rennie Dumas yesterday announced that ghost gangs have been “exorcised” from the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) and the revamped programme will have a construction element to it.

Addressing a news conference at Port-of-Spain City Hall after meeting with the heads of the country’s 14 local government bodies, the Minister declared: “You have seen the changes in URP. You don’t hear any grouse, any bacchanal. When last you hear somebody talk about ghost gangs in URP. It’s a changed product, it is a changed service. “We have 11,000 people out there every day that we can account for, doing work that people can account for. We have changed the payment system. We have changed the recruitment system. We have put in managerial systems. We put in managers, accountants. We have done the work.” The presence of ghost gangs in the URP has been a perennial thorn in the side of successive PNM, NAR and UNC governments. Dumas said from March to July, 11,500 persons will be employed on some 400 projects nationwide and the URP will be “moving from what has been a purely maintenance programme to a construction programme,” with 7,500 of the 11,500 being involved in the new construction element.

In terms of increasing local government’s capacity and delivery mechanisms, Dumas said his Ministry will be getting its funding from the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP —$32 million), Road Improvement Fund (RIF — $23 million) and the newly-formed Infrastructure Renewal, Improvement and Development Fund (IRID). He added that these efforts will “feed into” initiatives recently outlined by Prime Minister Patrick Manning to create sustainable employment and address the concerns in the nation’s economically-depressed communities. “What you have is a requirement to move that money, to move that money properly and for the benefit of people.  Local Government is part of the implementation of that programme. It has to also ramp up its capacity, its delivery and certainly be in a position to respond to the requests being made by the people in the various local government areas,” Dumas said.

Under the RIF, Dumas revealed that releases have been made to each local government corporation that would allow every councillor, regardless of political affliation,  access to monies for projects in his or her electoral district. Dumas added that throughout all these exercises, the Ministry is cognisant of the need for astute, financial management and has put the necessary systems in place. The Minister also said that over the years, local government bodies have accumulated “a reasonable amount of unspent balances” and the Finance Ministry has been requested to do an audit on these monies.