By Chantalé Fletcher
PRINCES Town MP Barry Padarath is describing the meeting of the Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) and unions as the “death of announcement” for more than 700 workers from the organisation.
Speaking at the United National Congress (UNC) meeting on Monday night said when Kamla Persad-Bissessar left as prime minister, there were over 3,000 workers at TSTT.
Padarth said, “With the anticipated announcements coming to unions on Tuesday, it is anticipated that over 700 workers will go home, all, all in an effort to privatise TSTT and further sell out to friends and family of the PNM.”
He asked several questions:
Did TSTT breach their contract with Amplia prior to the buying of Massy Communications with a company called Fitizju?
Was there a storm in a teacup created for now CEO of TSTT Lisa Agard who was then a director at Massy Communications to threaten legal action against TSST?
Padarath made reference to documents claiming the circumstances and reasons why Mass Communication was bought by the Government “secretly” for over $279 million.
He also enquired if there was a contract with Amplia for a programme called Oracle before the purchase of Massy Communications.
Padarath asked, “Was TSTT’s hand forced to purchase Mass Communications who had less than 5,000 customers, as no profits were registered and was currently at that time on a deathbed to avoid litigation?”
He said, “Is this an effort to drive TSTT to the ground and transfer assets to Amplia.” He said these were questions asked in Parliament since 2018.
Assets of TSTT
Padarath also made reference to five properties owned by TSTT at Laventille, Cipero Street, Port-of-Spain, Matilda, Princes Town and San Fernando which remained vacant but were cited for warehouse and specialised usage.
Padarath described them as the assets of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
He added that the Cabinet of T&T and the line minister for TSTT, Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales dictated the state enterprises and their major decisions such as acquisitions and rentals.
Padarath said, “They determine what is government policy, while these five remain vacant the properties, the rich are getting richer based on these documents in this file.”
Padarath also made reference to a property in D’Abadie that the Government through TSTT has signed a contract for and spent $ 8.6 million to outfit only.
He said, “It was alleged there a was also a lease agreement for over 15 years with million of T&T taxpayers money funding this, while there were other properties across the lengths and breadth of T&T remain vacant.”
Padarath added that the company’s registry showed the crème de la crème of the one percent of Trinidad and Tobago.
He said, “ When the Prime Minister told us the rich will get richer, he knew exactly what he was speaking about.”
