Secretaries Answers to Questions
FULL VIDEO
CEPEP RE-ENGAGED/REDEPLOYED
37. The Minority Councillor asked the Secretary of Community Development, Youth Development and Sport the following question:
“Given the assurance given by both the Chief Secretary and yourself with respect to persons who would have been terminated from the CEPEP programme, can the Secretary confirm the following:
(a) How many persons were re-engaged by the programme?
(b) How many persons who were not re-engaged, were redeployed in other divisions?
(c) How many persons to date have neither been re-engaged nor re-deployed?”
Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer, and good morning to all my Colleagues.
The strictest answer to part (a) of the question, is zero (0), but I will elaborate a little further.
The answer is the same for (b).
The answer for (c) would be thirty-seven (37) persons.
The way the question was posed, Madam Presiding Officer, I will elaborate a bit, with your leave.
The initial administrative set up of the programme had some fifty-nine (59) administrative positions and we felt (as we looked at the programme; we looked at the restructuring and so on) that it was administratively overweight, so we set that up to now have twenty-four (24) positions. We had over six hundred plus (600+) persons applying and after shortlisting and so on. We were looking for three (3) what we call ‘Project Support Officers.’ The interview was on the September 21st, 2022 and three (3) persons were recommended. One (1) declined and two (2) persons are being considered for the positions. We still need to find one (1) more officer in that capacity.
As it relates to the District Officers, we needed fifteen (15) persons.There were seventeen (17) persons who were short listed. Out of the shortlisted group, there were seventeen (17) persons who were interviewed on the’ September 19th, and unfortunately, only five (5) persons were able to meet the qualifications. They just did not meet the qualifications so it meant that we have to go back.
The point I am making, Madam Presiding Officer, is that the process is incomplete and we are doing a deeper dive to find officers. We are making some adjustments to some of the criteria, so that we can be able to get the recruitment as we would like. We anticipate, however, that by the end of January, this process should be completed.
Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer - a follow up.
Given that no one was re-engaged and no one was redeployed, the commitment was given to these persons that were given letters of termination - I think this was around May, sometime there - that they would be redeployed. They were asked to submit applications and if they were not successful in that process, a commitment was given for redeployment. I think a number of those persons still have hope that redeployment would occur.
The question is: When can persons who were given letters, be expected to be redeployed?
It would be presumptuous to think that when we say redeployment, that it means - because persons would have to be qualified for the various positions that would be made available and so on, even for the redeployment process. I hope the thinking is not - because what we have found, Madam Presiding Officer, is that several of the persons who were employed in those positions, do not have the qualification for the position. What we discovered, is that some of them even resemble ‘political puts’, as a matter of facts
The programme itself has a tremendous number of anomalies and we are trying to regularise that. As per the qualification, even with the redeployment and so on - and that is as the skill sets are a requisite for the particular positions that will be made available, and to pronounce a time line on that, will be unreasonable and I certainly cannot do that. However, I can say that we expect that the fixing of the administrative part of the programme be done by the end of January. That is what we are working towards.
Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. I am actually looking at a news article that quoted the Member and at the time when this was occurring, there was no caveat as to redeployment. It says:
“Persons at the top are being advised to reapply for positions.Unsuccessful applicants will be redeployed.”
Madam Presiding Officer, the hope that is given to persons that they will be redeployed, and now that...
Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. I just want to confirm that the hope again, that the Member gave to persons there, is it that he has decided to renege on his word; not to keep his word that persons will be redeployed, because I think the public needs to be clear that the words and the trust placed in the words of the Member - we cannot trust the words because it is clear here from the article, that person ...
What I am saying is, in my responses, Madam Presiding Officer, the fact that we have not yet completed the recruitment for the programme; the fact that we have gone back and we have decided to adjust some of the criteria, simply means - because these are persons who redeployed or to get persons reassigned rather, as long as they have the qualification. Thank you.
Thank you.
Minority Councillor, next question.
37. The Minority Councillor asked the Secretary of Tourism, Culture,
Antiquities and Transportation:
“Given that the Secretary, at the last Sitting, confirmed having paid $180,495.00 for costumes from Trinidad to be showcased at the Tobago Carnival, can the Secretary please indicate the following:
a. Who supplied the costumes, and
b. Have the suppliers of the costumes been paid?”
Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. Costumes were supplied by a mixture of individuals and one (1) company. The company’s name is "Entourage Productions'.
The individuals were Joel John, Laura Rampersad, Marlon Rampersad and Shrina Brizan. The actual cost of the costumes came up to one hundred and thirty-two thousand, three hundred dollars ($132,300). Have the suppliers of the costumes been paid? Yes, they have been paid. Thank you.
Madam Presiding Officer, The Carnival Committee chairperson reached out to the Body that is responsible for mass in Trinidad, which is the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Bands Association (I believe that is their name), asking for the possibility of having the National Kings and Queens who participated in the competition earlier this year that took place in Trinidad in February - to find out if it was possible that any of these persons would be available for the Carnival to parade. That was the process that was employed.
They indicated to us, that usually what happens after the Carnival, is that because of the size of these costumes, most of them are dismantled because they do not have storage space and all of these things, to take up these costumes and they begin construction of their new costumes for the following Carnival almost immediately after the last one. However, they reached out to all of the persons who participated in that competition and they got feedback from eight (8) persons who indicated that they still had their costumes intact and that they would be available to parade.
Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer.
Further follow up. The Secretary would have indicated that the suppliers were paid for the costumes. Madam Presiding Officer, we would have heard a number of cries in the public space from creative entertainers. The Minority is also aware that some service providers inclusive of (Inaudible) have not been paid for the October Carnival.
Madam Presiding Officer, can the Secretary indicate in light of payments to these persons, when persons still being owed for the Tobago Carnival, will be paid?
Madam Presiding Officer, these payments are currently being processed. The accounts department of the Tobago Festivals Commission Limited has been extremely overworked because they have a number of previous events to pay out for. You would understand that we have a very small accounts department, very much unlike the divisions, and these persons have gone above and beyond the call of duty in terms of trying to get out payments. So, the undertaking here, is to try to get as many payments out this week and during the course of next week.
Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. What we are concerned with. Madam Presiding Officer, is why are our Tobago creatives not being paid on time? We have a case in point where persons are still complaining. You hear the cries on social media of non-payment for October Carnival. The Secretary would have spoken about previous outstanding bills that they may have had. How is it that these persons have not been paid, yet other persons, particularly the persons supplying the costumes, have been paid? What is the process for (meaning the priority of) payment? What is the priority? Why is one section paid in advance of the others? What is the priority and how is it that that is occurring, Madam Presiding Officer?
Madam Presiding Officer, the Tobago Festivals Commission is a company that has a Board of Directors and a Chief Executive Officer.
I, as Secretary, am unable to answer whether there is a system that is utilized to prioritize payments. They got a directive from the Executive Council to carry out an activity and that directive was given.
They were given initial releases to be able to secure whatever was critical to get that activity carried out. Subsequent to that, once there are bills outstanding, they would request additional releases if needed, to carry out additional payments.
All of these things have been done. The Tobago Festivals Commission Limited (TFCL) got an initial release to secure critical elements to ensure that the Tobago Carnival came off successfully.
They also requested additional releases to take up the balance of the payments. Those releases have been sent to them and they are in the process of processing payments at this time.