Khan: Back to basics for CEPEP

On August 25, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley reassigned CEPEP from the Public Utilities Ministry to the Rural Development and Local Government Ministry. A statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister on that day said it was Government’s intention to eventually disaggregate the budgetary allocation for CEPEP between Khan’s Ministry of Rural Development and the Works and Transport Ministry.

In a statement, Khan said, “My major concern at this time with CEPEP is the lack of productivity and value for money. There are currently 265 contractors, some 12,000 employees and a monthly payroll of $50 million.” However Khan added, “Yet the whole country is ‘in bush’. The CEPEP board and management have to take responsibility for production and performance.

I will be holding them accountable for that.” He recalled CEPEP was originally conceived as an entrepreneurial incubator programme whereby unemployed individuals would receive basic training in skillsets that would enable them to form community- based limited liability companies to offer basic environmental protection and enhancement services within their communities.

“In looking forward, we must look back to original intent. We must remember the real reason for the creation of CEPEP,” Khan declared.

He observed that while CEPEP has been criticised for many things since its inception, “at the heart of the matter CEPEP was meant to bring communities together and make communities a cleaner, brighter and safer place to live.” Khan said under the ministry, CEPEP contractors will provide services that complement, rather than duplicate, the work already carried out by the 14 municipal corporations.

In the context of local government reform, Khan said CEPEP contractors will be engaged in a way that allows for gainful employment of appropriately skilled persons, providing services that are truly required within the different geographical boundaries. He added that CEPEP, “will play a greater role in rural development.” CEPEP has said said its management has discovered a misappropriation of $39.6 million of CEPEP funds spent on construction projects in the Oropouche East constituency, which is represented in Parliament by its former line minister Dr Roodal Moonilal.

In response, Moonilal has threatened to sue CEPEP for defamation.

Moonilal also claimed CEPEP’s reassignment to the Rural Development and Local Government Ministry,“is an open, blatant and naked attempt at politicising the programme on the eve of a local government election.” Khan is also chairman of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM).