Attorney General John Jeremie is expected to advise Government on whether Chaguanas MP Jack Warner can pay the wages of 54 workers of the Chaguanas Borough Corporation. This was revealed yesterday by Local Government Minister Hazel Manning. Speaking to reporters at Claxton Bay during a tour of flood affected areas yesterday, Manning said a big issue had arisen following Warner's decision to hand over a cheque for $309,000 to pay the workers.
"We have just got information that a private citizen has paid money towards the payment of salaries and we have gone to the attorney general to get guidance on this. "That is not the norm. We are concerned that this region has obtained over $300,000 from a private citizen to pay wages. That money is not in our books and we have now gone to the attorney general to get advice on what should be done. The attorney general will be able to guide us," Manning said.
She said it was in May that the Government found out the corporation, under the former mayor, had hired more staff.
Manning said Government had allocated $75 million to the borough to take care of developmental works and hiring of staff. "In May we discovered a problem where the borough hired more staff than they should hire. They hired over 200 people. We gave $75 million to run the borough. That $75 million took care of development works and hiring of staff. In May we sat with the mayor and worked out a plan (to deal with payment of staff) and we transferred funds and took care of 200 workers. We didn't know that 55 workers were still outstanding," Manning said. She said Warner's decision to pay the workers had to be reviewed by the attorney general.
Contacted for comment, Chaguanas Mayor Natasha Navas said she was in a meeting and would call back to give a statement. Warner was also out of office and an official who answered his cellphone said he would return the call. On Monday 54 workers from the Chaguanas Borough Corporation celebrated after Warner announced that he had handed over a cheque of $309,000 to rehire them. The workers were retrenched last week. The workers, who included litter wardens, were sent home after Navas informed them that there was insufficient funding to pay their salaries until the end of the financial year in September. In a brief news conference at the corporation yesterday, Warner said a cheque was handed over to the corporation last week to pay the workers.