Ameen to send URP corruption reports to police

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen. - Photo by Jeff K Mayers

MINISTER of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen said she will report cases of alleged corruption in the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) to police soon.

Ameen has alleged these incidents took place under the former government.

Her allegation came on July 14 in a statement, Focus remains on fixing URP not distractions from PNM, after Arouca/Lopinot MP Marvin Gonzales challenged the government to provide evidence to back its claims of a feeding frenzy URP under the former government.

Ameen vowed not to be dragged into a war of words with former PNM ministers trying to deflect from their own failures.

“I will not be distracted by propaganda and lies from those who helped create the mess we are now cleaning up.

“Some Opposition members should be careful rushing to defend these allegations. They may not fully understand the level of corruption their own colleagues were involved in.”

Ameen said reports will be sent to the police service (TTPS) and its fraud squad.

“A meeting is set for this Tuesday with the URP programme.

“We are committed to employing real people in need of work – not ghost gangs – and to partnering with other ministries on meaningful projects.”

She said her focus was to restore accountability and deliver real relief through the URP.

Gonzales earlier issued his challenge during an interview on CCN TV6’s Morning Edition, in reply to Ameen’s claim on July 13 of a “feeding frenzy” in URP ahead of the April 28 general election.

Ameen had claimed over 500 URP work groups originally assigned to Tobago were removed and reallocated to six regions along the East-West corridor considered to be marginal constituencies.

She also alleged “overspending and overhiring” of people with political connections. The URP falls under her ministry.

Gonzales declared, “The playbook of the government is that you make wild allegations against persons within the PNM.”

The UNC’s playbook, he continued, is to mislead people into believing people who are members of certain political parties cannot engage in any legitimate business activity, including tendering for contracts, with either the State or any State-controlled entity. Gonzales recalled former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley telling cabinet ministers about their roles and responsibilities.

“He would remind us that every minister is responsible for what takes place in his ministry.”

But Gonzales added all former PNM government ministers were clear about the things which they were not supposed to do.

Arouca/Lopinot MP Marvin Gonzales - File photo

“It is not the responsibility of politicians to go into ministries, you get evidence, you don’t refer it to the appropriate authorities and you use it for a (political ) tit for tat.”

Gonzales said while the former PNM government and the party would defend former PNM government ministers against unsubstantiated claims of corruption, that position changed whenever credible evidence of wrongdoing was presented.

With respect to URP, he claimed the UNC has not produced any such evidence to date.

“If there is evidence of corruption and corrupt activities in any programme, in Cepep...in URP in any aspect of governance in Trinidad and Tobago...then you take the evidence...you forward it to the appropriate authorities and let the chips fall where they may.”

In a WhatsApp comment, Diego Martin Central MP Symon de Nobriga encouraged Ameen to take her claims to the authorities.

“I suspect, however, that this will not happen just as it hasn’t happened in the other cases where they used alleged corruption as the basis for putting thousands of citizens out of a job in the months leading up to a new school term.”

De Nobriga’s comment was in relation to 10,700 workers who were recently terminated from Cepep. He said Ameen’s URP claims were another attempt by the UNC to distract the wider population and their immediate base supporters from a simple fact.

“The UNC has absolutely no idea how they were going to finance their campaign promises and they still have no idea.”

De Nobriga claimed now that this has been exposed, “they need to throw red meat to their supporters, the gullible in the wider society and the media for headlines while purging programmes of those they deem to be PNM supporters.”

He said, “The government is clearly engaged their own particular and familiar form of cleansing in the immediate aftermath of their victory.”

During a radio interview on July 14, Port of Spain South MP Keith Scotland asked whether the UNC’s focus on URP and its firing of Cepep and forestry workers within recent weeks, was an effort to distract attention away from the absence of any tangible plans it has to deal with crime.

“What has been done in the last six weeks that addresses any root concerns about the issue of crime?”

On July 9, Ameen dismissed claims made by her predecessor Faris Al-Rawi that government planned to fire approximately 5,000 URP workers.

In a statement on July 13, the ministry said, “Of the $300 million allocated to URP for this fiscal year, a staggering $231 million has already been drawn down, yet only $2 million has been spent on actual goods and services.” The ministry added the overwhelming majority of funds were used for payroll and alleged hundreds of people received salaries without performing any work or duties.