Bharath: Rowley’s ‘fabrication’ reveals how PNM failed the poor

THE Leader of the Opposition’s ‘penchant for fabrication’ has inadvertently helped to reveal his own party’s failure with the ‘Targetted Conditional Cash Transfer Programme’ according to Minister of Trade, Industry, Investment and Communication, Vasant Bharath. Minister Bharath was responding to claims by Dr Keith Rowley that the Ministry of the People and Social Development’s TT Card was being used for political purposes.

“Had Dr Rowley properly researched the history of the programme, he would have realised that it was in his best interest to say nothing, as it was under his Government the programme was seriously abused, and it is the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Administration that cleaned up the programme,” Minister Bharath said.

Reminding that it was while Dr Rowley served as a senior Cabinet Minister in 2006 that the first version of the ‘Targetted Conditional Cash Transfer Programme’ emerged, the Minister pointed to the Report of the Auditor General of September 2010. “The Auditor General found in the 2010 report that critical components of the TCCTP were ignored; that the self-sufficiency of beneficiaries was not realised, and that Debit Card monitoring and evaluation received insufficient priority. The report also recommended that that the Ministry should revisit the approval process with a view to promoting transparency and found that duplicate approvals resulted in substantial losses to the Government.”

The Minister added: “We also note that the 2010 report of the Auditor General found that the Ministry was not reaching acceptable numbers of poor and vulnerable people quickly enough.”

“It was for this reason that the Persad-Bissessar Administration comprehensively reviewed and cleaned up the programme and launched the TT Card in 2011. Following that, the Rights to Individuals to Social and Economic Security, Universal Prosperity (“RISE UP”) programme was launched to improve the benefits to the vulnerable, by providing training for card-recipients to empower them to earn their own incomes.”

“The programme was a success as in 2012, 5,250 Temporary Food Cards were distributed to service the 41 constituencies throughout Trinidad and Tobago. It is also important to note that 900 persons are waiting to graduate, having obtained employment and completed their developmental work as part of the RISE-UP programme that Dr Rowley is condemning.”

“If changing a programme from one that bred dependency, into an inclusive programme that guides people to greater independence is what Dr Rowley refers to as a corrupt use of the programme, then what he is saying is that he prefers that the poor be kept dependent on the State, rather than be empowered to build their own lives,” the Minister said.

Minister Bharath also dismissed Dr Rowley’s claims that the programme is to be bumped up by $3 billion. “This is a total fabrication and further evidence that Dr Rowley simply cannot be trusted with his information. The programme as we have improved it is actually channelling people out of the programme, into sustainable jobs and better livelihoods. It is also important to note that the entire 2013/2014 allocation for the Ministry was $3.5 Billion. It is therefore scandalous that he would suggest that $3 Billion is to be spent on a single programme and to fabricate such an amount purely because he wants a headline and wants to distract from his utter lack of vision and ideas.”

Minister Bharath further dismissed allegations by Dr Rowley on the appointment an Advisor to the Minister, saying: “The memo dated May 9th 2014, from the Prime Minister to Mr. Simeon Yearwood, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the People and Social Development stated that an Advisor to the Minister is to be appointed and is completely in keeping with allowances for personal support staff positions to a Minister.”

“Here again, as a former Minister, Dr Rowley is well aware of that, but has chosen to concoct a story and attempt to capitalise on deliberate mischief and defame a very hardworking professional woman. He has made himself extremely hard to trust as a source of information.”