Same ole CEPEP story

RURAL DEVELOPMENT and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi made a familiar declaration on April 27.

According to the minister, CEPEP is part of his ministry’s plan to integrate local government reform with economic development.

“There are some very exciting days ahead,” he said, speaking at an event hosted by the company at its head office in Ste Madeleine.

But in the two-decade history of this entity, which began as the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme and then later became the CEPEP Company Ltd, we’ve heard this kind of thing before.

At least three PP Government ministers similarly embarked on merging developmental and economic needs in their handling of this controversial make-work scheme.

In 2015, there was a move for 2,500 CEPEP workers to be handed over to the private sector, with the help of business chambers. The idea was to address distortions in the private labour market.

“How we manage this is going to be a very important pilot for going forward, be it in 2015, 2016 or 2017, as we manage this transition into private sector absorption of what is relatively unskilled and other skilled labour which can be trained to become a part of a productivity system,” declared Dr Bhoe Tewarie, the Minister of Planning.

He was working on the issue alongside Minister of Finance and the Economy Larry Howai and Minister of Housing and Urban Development Dr Roodal Moonilal.

Mr Al-Rawi is today telling us a comparatively vague CEPEP story involving entrepreneurship, hydroponics, models, markets and proven yields, saying it all makes “great business sense.”

In his reckoning, the future is bright for the company’s 10,200 workers and hundreds of contractors.

However, the belief that a new dawn is upon us is contradicted by CEPEP’s troubling history.

In addition to the scandalous allegations of abuse and wastage that predated both the PP and current PNM administrations, a massive $1.5 billion hole in accountability more recently emerged in relation to the new CEPEP company. That is still engaging its attention.

Last year, a Parliament committee heard claims that financial records for 2016-2020 were lost due to a data server going down.

A few months ago, however, officials of the line ministry, updated the committee, saying, “As previously indicated, the CEPEP Company Ltd has restored the data lost.”

“The system has been rebuilt,” wrote a civil servant, “all the required financial documents are available.”

Further, “the external auditors have indicated the audited financial statements for the period 2016-2019 should be completed by October 2024.” Once completed, CEPEP will retain auditors to complete 2020-2023.

Meanwhile, little has changed when it comes to the money being pumped into this fraught entity, which was allocated $430 million, $456.5 million and $426.6 million in the last three fiscal periods.

CEPEP needs to be changed into a company that supports unemployed people pending their gaining employment.

But Mr Al-Rawi aside, there is little to suggest, on the eve of a general election, that anything is about to change.