Government MP Barry Padarath says the Opposition PNM can only offer a return to dependency politics that will drag this country backwards.
He was responding to the Opposition Leader’s State of the Republic address on Wednesday night that promised a resurrection of the controversial CEPEP program.
“Her central promise, to resurrect CEPEP, a program, that was persistently dogged by allegations of political patronage, deficient procurement practices, lack of corporate compliance, and the allocation of State resources to entities that, in some instances, did not even meet basic legal and regulatory thresholds,” he stated.
Mr Padarath said the program has persistently been dogged by allegations of political patronage, deficient procurement practices, and lack of corporate compliance.
“Even today, the Opposition continues to defend that system, despite widespread national debate and scrutiny surrounding CEPEP contracts and operations,” he said.
The Public Utilities Minister said Trinidad and Tobago is moving forward together with the rest of the world, while the Opposition is still campaigning in the past.
“That is not vision, that is regression. What is even more telling is what was not said. Not a word about reform, not a word about accountability, not a word about how those same programmes became vulnerable to exploitation in the first place,” he said.
“Instead, we are offered a return to dependency politics, a model that keeps citizens tied to handouts rather than empowering them through innovation, education, and opportunity.”
Mr Padarath said the PNM should fix its internal issues first, and the Opposition Leader should first address the serious questions within her own party.
“Issues of leadership authority in the PNM, conduct of her Senators in relation to aiding and abetting former Minister of Health, Terrance Deyalsingh at the Public Accounts and Administration Committee and why Stuart Young went to Venezuela and kept her in the dark,” he said.
“The Opposition Leader’s speech was not a policy statement, it was an indictment of the Opposition’s complete absence of vision, one that is in dire need of track changes.”
