PNM leader Keith Rowley is in favour of fixing Government's social programmes which may need weeding out of any "scoundrels".
Speaking in Tacarigua on Monday, Rowley said the Government seemed "more PNM than PNM" since the administration has kept so many PNM programmes. But while the Government has increased allocations to such programmes, he felt they would eventually slow down the application process for programmes –such as GATE–so that people would have to wait sometime for entry.
That was not to say, Rowley added, that the social programmes should not be fixed to address any problems therein. Rowley said programmes often have a "few scoundrels" who tried to get more than usual and that should be weeded out. Labour Minister Errol McLeod recently signalled intention to restructure programmes like URP to weed out negative elements who may try to hog URP work. However, Rowley was not in favour of restricting URP to youths rather than senior citizens. He also noted the Government was "sending home all contract workers." Rowley said the budget confirmed the PNM "gave away" (sic) the Government in the May election.
He added: "Those who got it don't know what to do.They have no plan. They didn't expect to be in Government. They were as surprised as we were when election was called. "We ushered the People's Partnership into Government half way into the term." Rowley said if the PNM had to be honest about itself, party members would recognise that the PNM had "invited" change and that the voters' reaction in the May 24 general election was to the management of T&T.
He said it was the managers to whom the May 24 "reaction was geared" since no one resisted the PNM programmes " as we see some being used," he noted. Rowley said the PNM voted for the People's Partnership 2010-2011 budget since to have voted against it would be "playing stupid politics" and would have affected PNM's credibility as it was PNM plans in the Government's budget.
