CEPEP breaking new ground

THE EDITOR: Permit me room to take issue with someone named Baldath Mahabir of La Romaine, writing “Why CEPEP is destructive” in your Letters page of Sunday July 11. he has laid blame on the CEPEP programme for contributing to this country’s labour shortage as it applies to agriculture, an imminent “erosion of our skilled tradesmen and technician base in this country,” the crop of skilled workers of tomorrow and even the future energy sector. I choose to see through and deal with Mr Mahabir’s letter for its mischievous political intent rather than dismiss it for the idiotic piece of writing it really is. Let us also never forget his reference to those thousands of hard-working CEPEP employees who, he says, “can find employment cutting grass and painting stones by dy while doing other things by night....”

Like the destructive opposition politicians who gleefully let a recent opportunity to help stem the crime wave slip when they refused to support the Police Bills in Parliament, like the veteran opposition parliamentarian who was recently reported as complaining there are now “no Indians” in the Police Service Commission, Baldath Mahabir represents a narrow-minded, prejudiced, desperately reckless bunch of people who would prefer to see this country go down as long as they are not in control. How in heaven’s name can any citizen with concern for his country not be heartened to see his less fortunate fellow men enjoying some financial stability and being able to look forward to the future while making a meaningful contribution to their community, by working on the CEPEP programme?

What is it that makes a citizen so blindly callous that he refuses to acknowledge the impressive work done by some CEPEP teams in clearing and digging drains, cutting forest-like bush to reveal parks that had been abandoned for years, and using their own funds to set up environmental projects now being used and taken for granted by the public? Which country is Baldath Mahabir really a citizen of? Is it the same Trinidad and Tobago in which the CEPEP workers and the rest of us have invested and live? Or is it some little secret, exclusive, culturally myopic enclave from which he and his fellow miscreants emerge by day to make money like leeches sucking out the benefits of citizenship, then retreating to their sacrosanct caves while waiting anxiously to see the country fall? Baldath Mahabir and his cronies must know that even as they lambaste CEPEP, there are contractors finding new businesses, breaking new ground, seeking further success.

They must be made aware that even as they sing their archaic song about people painting stones, some CEPEP workers are taking courses for self-improvement  with the help of contractors and on their own; some are re-building their homes; taking care of their families and — on at least one occasion — two CEPEP workers in the same company have got  married. What more encouragement do you want? Baldath Mahabir must decide if he wants to really live — not lurk — here in Trinidad and Tobago. As a citizen he should seek to criticise constructively. But for now Mr Mahabir, to put pen to paper for the sake of trying to “mash up” a programme that holds so much hope for many of his fellow citizens, is to make one wonder if the ship which brought him here was not a ship whose cargo included a number of fools. Baldath Mahabir and his people must also know that the CEPEP whipping boys have grown up — and at least one of us is ready to strike back.

RUDOLPH WILLIAMS
Managing Director
Jaisuree Enterprises Limited, Freeport