00:00Questions over the number of persons who became unemployed as a result of the closure of CPEP and the social
00:06impact were redirected to the Ministry of Social Development.
00:10As minister in the Ministry of Public Utilities, Clyde Elder said the social impact cannot be assessed by his ministry.
00:18CPEP was a program which over 200 contractors were hired by the then PNM administration.
00:26It was a program fraught and riddled with ghost gangs, corruption and a hand-selected few PNMites who became millionaires
00:38and who had homes in Florida.
00:42If we were to listen to the member of Parliament for South and North East, they were feeding at the
00:48trough.
00:48The questions posed by Independent Senator Dr Marlene Atts were based on CPEP and they were then directed to the
00:56Minister of Local Government who was asked about the changes in community conditions since the program closed.
01:02If you do an analysis of where the CPEP contractors were distributed, it was really in areas where the former
01:10government MPs were.
01:11And so there was that large concentration on constituencies that were represented by PNM.
01:19What I can tell you is that under the government led by the Honorable Kamala Passat-Bissessa, we have strengthened,
01:26we are working on strengthening all 14 of our municipal corporations.
01:31Minister Khadija Amin cited the NPAPS program which is now responsible for the upkeep of public spaces.
01:37And they provide maintenance of roadways, parks, cemeteries, recreation grounds and other spaces that fall under the local authorities.
01:48But they also assist, for instance, in panyards and community centres and other areas where they are called upon, irrespective
01:57of whether it's a PNM or a UNC constituency or corporation.
02:01They have also partnered with the Education Ministry, she said, to have some 333 schools prepped before the start of
02:09the new term.
02:10I also want to reject the suggestion that with the closure of CPEP you have a general deterioration because we
02:18are working on fixing that.
02:20And as we go forward, we will expand the responsibilities and continue to empower all 14 of our municipal corporations.
02:28The NPAPS program has some 1,684 employees at present.
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