CEPEP in comparison to Caroni

THE EDITOR: Please correct me if I’m wrong about Caroni and CEPEP. Recently, Mr Manning announced his government’s intention to triple the CEPEP.

This would cost $400 million annually, to clean up the environment, and basically give people some work. That’s the essence of the programme. It doesn’t earn foreign exchange, or sustain a way of life for those involved in the programme. It is a temporary relief measure akin to URP. However, there is a perception that this programme is being used as a payback for PNM supporters, whose fly-by-night companies received significant contracts.

Caroni on the other hand is more complicated. It is a way of life for those involved in the sugar industry and it does earn foreign exchange. But nobody disagrees it is a strain on the treasury and must be restructured. Quoting the agriculture minister verbatim, “We cannot continue to support an industry that is a burden to the people to the tune of $400 million a year.” So what makes CEPEP so special to warrant $400 million of taxpayers money, and Caroni a burden? Does the answer surround political patronage and ethnicity? Or is CEPEP the vehicle that would enable the government to realise its vision 2020?

WAYNE JAGGERNAUTH
Loughborough University
Leciestershire
UK