Caption: Khadijah Ameen
By Prior Beharry
MINISTER of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen has backed Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s position that the $2.1 billion allocated to regional corporations is sufficient.
She also noted that several police investigations into alleged mismanagement are under way.
Ameen made the comments at a press conference at United National Congress (UNC) headquarters in Chaguanas on Sudnay.
She said that funding will be “fair and transparent” and that corporations must use allocations more productively.
Ameen said, “You will hear more about that. While we cut out the criminals, the middlemen, and all the PNM friends and financiers, we are using the money to provide meaningful employment and better wages.
She said, “I want you to hear it straight from the rubbish collection: funding will be fair and transparent under this government.”
Ameen rejected claims that People’s National Movement (PNM)-led corporations are being shortchanged, pointing to this fiscal year’s allocations. According to Ameen, PNM corporations received $987.29 million—$181 million more than the $805.46 million allocated to UNC-run corporations.
“This is not a funding crisis; it is a political lie,” she said.
Ameen also alleged that in some PNM-run corporations, contractors failed to pay garbage collectors despite receiving full allocations, leaving taxpayers to absorb the cost of “inefficiency.” She said there were “ghost gangs,” inflated contracts, political interference, and contracts allegedly awarded to party associates.
“If I were to speak about the ills and corruption—the ghost gangs that became normal, inflated contracts to friends and family, political interference, contracts for former PNM candidates and associates, and billions spent with little to show—it would be extensive,” Ameen said.
She noted that most PNM chairmen and mayors were cooperative, describing only a few as “noise makers.”
Persad-Bissessar on a post on Saturday said that the People’s National Movement (PNM) –controlled corporations have received more money than the United National Congress (UNC) – controlled ones and will not “get a cent more…”
She said, “PNM corporations should stop suskaying, because they’re not going to get a cent more than the almost one billion dollars that they are already receiving for this fiscal year. Instead they should begin spending taxpayers’ money on services to citizens and not on feteing, rum, wining on the road and paying for ghost projects.”
Suskaying is a Bhojpuri/Hindustani word defined as the act of sobbing, specifically inhaling sharply, gasping or choking back tears while crying.
