Weeks after the TTPS confirmed a planned hit on the life of Defence Minister Wayne Sturge, the Minister appeared to publicly address the matter for the first time. Speaking at the reopening of the North Eastern Regional Multipurpose Sport Facility in Sangre Grande last evening, Sturge said, the Chairman of the Regional Corporation "threw him under the bus". Rynessa Cutting has more.
00:00I found myself in a spot of bother early in my term, because very early, the chairman of the regional corporation came to me and produced some WhatsApp video, not video, sorry, audio and WhatsApp messages complaining about someone who hails from a fishing pond and who wanted to ensure that the ghost gangs continued.
00:28And because he didn't have flashing blue lights and protection, he threw me under the bus and I have no difficulty with that and said, well, it's the minister.
00:38Minister of Defence Wayne Sturt, speaking publicly for the first time, providing what appears to be insight into the plant hit against his life, which has been confirmed to be linked to the reform of the CPEP and URP programmes.
00:53And the truth is, I take the blame because very early I said to certain people that there will be no ghost gangs running in Toko, Sandy Grande.
01:03I said, in essence, there's enough for everybody.
01:08And if we don't run ghost gangs, it doesn't matter if you are PNM or UNC.
01:13Once you are indigent, you are entitled to the benefits of that sort of state assistance and entitled to an aspect of retraining so that you do not spend your life on what has become a handout,
01:28what has created a dependency syndrome, but you are retrained to the point that you can wean yourself off of the programme and get into meaningful and sustainable employment.
01:42Sturge noted the Ministry of Rural Development and local government had said there were an estimated 8,000 to ghost workers in the programmes.
01:52He points out this deprised 8,000 to legitimate people of income.
01:56I do not buy the argument that some people are inherently unemployable.
02:03That's a fallacy because how much skill do you really need to get involved in farming?
02:08You don't need that much.
02:12So we are all employable if we are willing to do the work.
02:16The minister was speaking at the reopening of the Northeastern Regional Multipurpose Sport Facility in Sandy Grande.
02:24There's this proverb which says the devil will find work for idle hands and that sport is one of the things that would make your hands not idle.
02:32And there are many in Toko, Sandy Grande who have used sports to basically better themselves.
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