Opposition Member of Parliament for La Horquetta/Maloney Alicia Hospedales yesterday called for an “urgent investigation” into the operations at the Ministry of the People. Hospedales claimed that her own investigations into that ministry uncovered a monthly bill of $17 million for the short term employment facility. She said under the People’s National Movement, that figure stood at $75,000 per month. “Look at that big difference,” Hospedales said.
Hospedales, during her contribution to the budget debate, repeatedly asked whether the People’s Partnership Government could be trusted and each time answered her own question in the negative. “The Ministry of the People and Social Development got an allocation of over $3 billion and should be brought under scrutiny. The ‘so-called’ people’s arm of the ministry is a total illusion,” Hospedales said.
“There is nothing different that this arm is doing to resolve citizens problems that cannot be done across ministries,”she said. She described the new arm as nothing more than a “co-ordinating arm for direct effect walkabouts in the country.” Hospedales said it was clear that the Government was using that arm and staff to facilitate campaigning efforts. “There is clear abuse of authority and improper use of staff resources for campaigning. Why is the money allocated to the ministry being used for political campaigns?” she asked.
She accused Minister of the People Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh of using ministry staff in his constituency office on Tuesdays. She also called for another investigation into the recruitment processes at the ministry citing improper promotions. Hospedales referred to members of the ruling party as “false-hooders,” a term which had the Government members snickering and laughing outright during her one-hour-and-15-minute contribution.
She touched on the lack of proper hiring practices and pointed out that the mother of a sitting minister, one Claudette Ramnarine, was appointed the regional co-ordinator of the TT Card programme in Sangre Grande. “These things need to be investigated,” she said.
The PNM MP claimed there was food card abuse at only one office in the country. Hospedales also called for more information on the planned postal service reform project. She questioned whether that meant a complete restructuring of the existing TT Post.
“What is that all about? A total of $6 million is allocated for this purpose. What do they have planned for the future of TTPost? I understand that TTPost continues to struggle and is in dire straights. Are employees going to eventually face retrenchement? Is there going to be a cut in the number of staff?” she asked.