The increase in demand for back-to-school assistance is reflective of CEPEP (Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme) and URP (Unemployment Relief Programme) job cuts.
This is the view of Member of Parliament for Port of Spain South, Keith Scotland, who hosted a back-to-school drive at his constituency office on Piccadilly Street in Port of Spain yesterday.
He said that children who attended the back-to-school drive were treated to school bags with stationery, lunch kits, bottles and snacks.
When the Express arrived at that location, about 30 women lined the pavement with their children waiting to collect their back-to-school goodies, while about ten more sat on chairs in the office looking on as their children were given the items.
Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles was also in the office assisting Scotland and his staff with the distribution and chatting with the little ones.
After a batch of about 20 to 25 received their items, Scotland called on his staff to bring out Favourite Freezies, which he distributed to the excited children, while Beckles held out a tray of biscuits for the children to enjoy.
Scotland explained that the drive was an annual initiative he engaged in to assist members of his constituency.
He said that this year, because of the job cuts, he catered for 1,200 children, and that figure represents 400 more than what he catered for last year.
He said, “It’s very prudent to stretch and to see if I can reach as many families as I can who have children who need to go back out to school and, due to the unfortunate situation, we have found ourselves in, they cannot afford it.”
He likened the Government’s move to cut CEPEP and URP jobs to a game and urged the Government to “stop playing with people’s lives”. “The effect of the termination of these CEPEP contractors is that 10,700 persons were put on the breadline. That’s the bottom line…That cannot in any circumstance be right, particularly at this point in time when people have to go back out to school. If your parents aren’t working, how can they afford the books, the bags, the lunch kits, for them to go back out to school, how?” the MP questioned.
Scotland also criticised the Government for citing corruption in CEPEP and URP as the justification for cutting jobs, adding that no concrete evidence has yet been produced to support those allegations.
“And zero will come of it. But I wouldn’t want the people, the workers to come to zero. And if this continues that’s exactly what they will come to, but not if I have anything to do with it. And not if the Leader of the Opposition has anything to do with it. We will fight in the courts. We will fight on the streets. We will fight,” Scotland vowed.
He also encouraged people who have been affected to empower themselves so that they will not put themselves at the mercy of those “who don’t care”.
Beckles: Bush
and more bush
At the event, Beckles commented on the impact the CEPEP and URP cuts were having on the former employees and called on the Government to provide an alternative to help them cope financially.
She questioned, “What happens when parents simply cannot pay their bills? Because it’s not just about the education and the school books, a lot of them are paying rents because, you know, it’s not big rent, but they’re paying their rents.
“A lot of them live weekly, every time they get that fortnight cheque or they get paid weekly, they go into the grocery. And some of us don’t understand that it’s real.”
She added that apart from making an honest living to provide for themselves and their families, they also played an integral part in maintaining a clean environment in public spaces around the country.
The Opposition Leader said, “You can go to any part of Trinidad and Tobago and you see the impact of the sending home of CEPEP has done as it relates to the environment and the cleanliness of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Relaying her own experience, she said, “I went to a funeral recently in La Fillette and you’re going through Maracas and you could barely see the sides of the road. It’s just bush, bush, bush. Is the Government really comfortable with that?”
She stated that the neglect of public spaces was not only impacting members of the PNM, but was a national concern affecting all citizens, regardless of party affiliation.
Sherlan Ramsubhag
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