Caption: Faris Al Rawi
By Alicia Chamely
PEOPLE’S National Movement (PNM) Senator Faris Al Rawi has struck back at Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Saddam Hosein after they accused him of using state programmes to “enrich” PNM members.
At Thursday’s post-cabinet press briefing, Persad-Bissessar, Padarath and Hosein launched a flurry of accusations at Al Rawi after he warned of mass layoffs in the near future.
Padarath said Al Rawi’s cries of “doom and gloom” was just a case of him “taking in front before front take you.” He said under Al Rawi the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) was a “run away horse” and was utilised as a “playground for PNM politicians.”
Hosein and Padarath said under Al Rawi’s leadership both CEPEP and the National Reforestation and Watershed Rehabilitation Programme (NRWRP) were plagued with last minute contracts, empty rental buildings, questionable hiring practices and ballooning costs.
In a media release sent on Friday, Al Rawi said Padarath and Hosein’s statements were “dangerous, salacious, sensational, deliberately misleading and often simply inaccurate.”
He stated their accusations were simply a way to confirm the Government’s intent “to fire the near 11,000 workers at CEPEP as well as the over 4000 workers at the NRWRP.”
Using Padarath’s words against him, he said it could be seen Padarath was the one “taking in front” before the front could take him.
Al Rawi said, “The cumulative effect of the Government’s statements thus far is that, in just over a month of UNC Governance, thousands of persons, the vast majority of whom earn as little as $120 a day plagued by the debilitating fear of job loss and out right destitution-in a public unveiling of the ugly truth hidden behind the campaign slogan that “when UNC wins, everyone wins.”
He said the public should be reminded that ministers are not involved in hiring employees, contractors and workers for CEPEP and NRWRP.
Al-Rawi said, “Incendiary statements laced with threats, castigations, innuendos with selective and partial reference to “fact” must not be tolerated when it comes to the livelihoods of our most vulnerable.”
