Senator: ‘Clean up the Public Sector’

Chote also told the Government and the Opposition to stop fooling the population into believing that one of them was doing something different from the other.

She observed while there has been a plethora of talk by several past administrations about rooting out corruption, the country is no closer now to catching any of the major persons alleged to be involved in corruption than it was a decade ago. Arguing that the focus on corruption in the country over the years has been misguided, Chote said there is a “deep level of corruption in the public sector” and this happens daily.

She claimed there was a high level official who was involved in putting ghost gangs on the payroll of a government ministry but provided no specifics on this.

Chote identified the Licensing Office as a place where corruption is said to take place. Turning to the criminal justice system, Chote said she was baffled as to why the country could not employ more than one forensic pathologist at any one time.

She agreed with an earlier concern raised by Independent Senator Hugh Russell Ian Roach that the Budget did not make sufficient provisions for handicapped persons and this was evident in many court buildings in TT.

Opposition Senator Khadijah Ameen asked Finance Minister Colm Imbert to indicate whether officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were in TT to hold talks with the Customs and Excise Division and the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) about the establishment of a Revenue Authority. Ameen said the UNC would oppose the establishment of the Authority if it meant the loss of jobs at both Customs and the BIR. She recalled that the UNC took the same position when the Authority was proposed under the former Patrick Manning administration.

Imbert has said legislation to establish the Authority will be coming to Parliament next year.