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  • 5 months ago
Former Minister of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings is denying claims made by Minister of Sport and Youth Development Phillip Watts.

Watts alleged in Parliament that money was squandered by the Ministry close to the 2025 General Election, saying he's sending the matter to the AG for investigation.

But there's another file involving construction contracts that Cummings would like Watts to forward as well.

Alicia Boucher has the details.
Transcript
00:00A surge in short-term hiring contracts in the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service
00:05from January 2025 up to the general election.
00:10The claim made by Minister Philip Watts in the House of Representatives who said
00:14some well-known People's National Movement members secured contracts ranging from $16,000 to $23,000
00:23and unapproved by the accounting officer of the ministry.
00:26Former Minister, now Opposition Senator Foster Cummings, is responding to the claims.
00:32While he's not denying that members of the PNM were contracted under the ministry,
00:36he's clearing himself of any involvement.
00:39The process in the public service is very clear.
00:43Employment is done by the Permanent Secretary.
00:46The approval for employment, the approval to pay,
00:50there is no way that I'm aware of that a Minister of Government can employ anybody
00:55that is paid by the public service, and that that person will be paid at all.
01:00It is not possible for anybody to work in a ministry and be paid
01:05unless it is approved by the Permanent Secretary.
01:09While Watts listed about 61 people hired, Cummings says,
01:13with over 30 programs implemented to benefit young people under the ministry,
01:18the employment rate was a lot higher than that.
01:21He's of the view that Watts handpicked those relating to the PNM to mislead the public.
01:27Among other issues by Watts, two caravans costing $800,000.
01:32The cost of that, too, Cummings claims he was unaware of,
01:36but he tells us the size of the community caravans aimed at targeting at-risk youth
01:41was based on the various communities under a tiered system
01:45requiring transportation services, lunch, performance, and so on.
01:49At the end of it, you touch a life of about 1,500 persons in one go,
01:55and many of them sign up for some of these life-changing programs.
02:00But this government would prefer to call a state of emergency and lock them up.
02:03He says Watts is free to take the file to Attorney General John Jeremy for investigation.
02:09But there is another file Cummings says should also be sent for investigation.
02:13Surrounding the initial contractor for the La Hocketa Community Center,
02:18the Jacob Hill Infrastructure Project works at Eden Gardens
02:22and two CPEP contracts which were either terminated or termination was threatened.
02:27Cummings says that's because the projects were incomplete by the contractor
02:32after tens of millions of taxpayer dollars were spent.
02:36I know that the contract for the La Hocketa Community Center
02:39was awarded for approximately $15 million.
02:42Does this be work?
02:43And therefore, I want to know, you know,
02:45it's very possible that somebody could be very angry
02:48that they did not perform well on these contracts
02:52and might be trying to blame somebody for their lack of performance.
02:55The same contractor who is now a minister
02:59standing like Pontius Pilate in the parliament yesterday
03:03and talking about reckless spending.
03:07Who is investigating that?
03:08What I want, the same file that he's compiling
03:14to send to the Attorney General
03:16add all of these contracts in it.
03:19Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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