CEPEP gangs pretending to be working

THE EDITOR: On any given day, a CEPEP gang of about 10 persons mostly women with tools of the trade in one hand come lumbering down the street, park themselves in the shade where ever they can find it. They had just come out from hiding in the church or school yard where they spent the first part of the morning. Finally, they move away to another street to pretend working. But wait, here comes another gang of about 12 persons again mostly women, only this time these are URP personnel repeating the same as the first.

This same day in many other parts of town, 12 workers, one with a weed-whacker, everyone else watches this one man work. “On the job training in land scaping” the public is told. Three years gone by and they still watching how to whack weed or sweep. (It will take less time to get a degree from UWI, though not that many learn that much more there either). This scenario repeats itself every single day in San Juan. Here we have adults, forced to swallow their pride and stand at the side of roads just to get a handout from this government. Liming and pretending they are working for a handout leaving their little kids at an untrained babysitter.

C ROOPNARINE
San Juan