By Sue-Ann Wayow
SOME $350 million has been spent on short-term state contracts which is being termed “perpetual slavery” by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Speaking in Parliament on Friday, Persad-Bissessar referred to information from the Auditor General’s Report which was laid in Parliament.
She said the auditor general’s definition of short-term employment was one in which an employee does not exceed employment past six months.
Persad-Bissessar disclosed that $350, 011,116.54 was spent on paying employees for short-term contracts for fiscal 2024.
She asked, “To whom did these short-term contracts go to?”
Persad-Bissessar said credit must be given to the Public Services Association (PSA) and others involved in crafting the Workers’ Agenda part of the United National Congress (UNC) election 2025 manifesto.
“They brought the Workers’ Agenda close to our hearts,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said, “This contracting of persons is another kind of slavery. You can’t get a mortgage. You can’t get a loan to buy a car because you are on short term contract and not even a credit card, I am told.”
She said this fiscal year, it represented an increase from the previous years expenditure, claiming it was increased because it was an election year.
“Let’s be real, hiring persons for three months to do what? Electioneering.”
“But it didn’t help you,” the prime minister told Opposition members.
According to the Auditor General’s Report, eight ministries and departments spent over $15 million under the vote of short-term employment.
Persad-Bissessar said as a follow-up to the report, a memo was sent to the Chief Personnel Officer on a policy directive which governs the recruitment of persons. The response from the CPO, according to the auditor was that the CPO was not the employer for persons engaged in short term contracts in the public service.
She said, “The authority to employ persons on short-term administrative arrangements resides with accounting officers across government ministries/department/
Persad-Bissessar said, “We know why. This is what they were doing short-term contracts, keep you on a string. You have to do their bidding if you want the contract to be renewed for a next short term, keep you in a form of perpetual slavery that is what has been going on.”
While the auditor was unaware of a policy directive which governed recruitment of persons under short-term employment, it was noted that there were many instances of persons being kept on for continuous periods significantly exceeding six months, she added.
Persad-Bissessar said, “This is contrary to good industrial relations practices and exposes the Government to liability. There was no accountability and no attempt to put any measures in place to provide accountability, procedures or transparency. This was a classic case “jobs for the boys and girls.”
All of which at the expense of the taxpayers she said.
