Manohar: PNM killing local govt

Opposition MP for Chaguanas, Manohar Ramsaran, accused the Government of giving a raw deal to local government, CEPEP workers, and Indo-Trinidadians seeking employment in these programmes.

He was addressing the House of Representatives on Friday evening during debate on the Bill to validate the Fourth Report of the Elections and Boundaries Commission on the Local Government Act. He accused the Government of presiding over the death of local government. Ramsaran stormed: “The Prime Minister should get up and say ‘I have abandoned local government’. We have one or two gangs in each corporation with five members — you go and investigate that! We are short-staffed and nobody can be hired and I don’t know why. Look at today’s headlines ‘URP goes CEPEP — this is another indication that the (Prime) Minister is presiding over the death of local government. “If he has any decency he can offer his resignation and make way for Christine Sahadeo rather than sending Maniedeo Persad out of the Senate. There is much more than meets the eye on the firing of Maniedeo Persad and we will talk about that more. This is causing the social problems in our society. “When you come to validate this bill five months later it shows the disregard, the contempt with which we treat local government in this country.”

He accused the PNM of racial discrimination which extended even into its own party ranks, saying:  “I have spoken to one or two senior members of the PNM — we still talk you know, don’t feel we don’t talk — and when people are discussing the problems facing Trinidad and Tobago, they treated the presence of the Indo-Trinidadians within the PNM as if they were not existing at all.” Ramsaran then said that while CEPEP contractors had been awarded large contracts, ordinary workers on the programme were earning just $1,400 per month. He asked: “What could they do with $1,400 per month? CEPEP is undermining local government. Who are the union representatives for CEPEP workers? Are they protected under any law? They could be fired any minute. You have them on hand to mouth.” Ramsaran concluded: “The Gov-ernment’s destruction of local government is destroying the whole social fabric of the country.”