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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