Move lifeguards from Natl Sec to Local Govt

He said that the Ministry of National Security under Minister Edmund Dillon is unable to properly and effectively manage the lifeguards with a view to improving service offered to the public.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday Lambert discredited Government’s assertion during the recent budget debate that there are enough lifeguards to patrol the beaches of Trinidad and Tobago.

Lambert said, “We consider it to be the abandonment by the Ministry of National Security as it relates to the lifeguards and to a lesser extent, the facility workers at Maracas and wherever there are lifeguards throughout the country.” “This morning, we are here because of the fact that the Ministry of National Security was given the portfolio of overseeing the lifeguards and the facility workers at Maracas and elsewhere. And since they came into office on September 2016, we have had one meeting with the then Permanent Secretary in the month of May of 2015 with the intention of having a subsequent meeting in the month of July 2015.

He said that previously, lifeguards used to be under the Ministry of Local Government and then it was transferred to the Ministry of Tourism.

“So it look like National Security took over from the Ministry of Tourism. And from the day National Security took over, it has been problems. We are saying as the National Union of Government and Federated Workers, we are of the view very strongly that the Ministry of National Security cannot operate lifeguards and also the facility workers.

“There is sufficient problems taking place in the country as it relates to crime, murders and all these sort of things that it appears to us the Ministry of National Security is unable to take care of. How then could they take care of and manage civilian workers such as lifeguards?” Lambert also refuted the statement made during the recent Budget debate that there are enough lifeguards across Trinidad and Tobago, saying that the National Security Ministry has no clue with regard to what is taking place with lifeguards and the plethora of problems facing lifeguards on a daily basis.