Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles will host a legal clinic for terminated Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) contractors today, as more People’s National Movement (PNM) attorneys—including former prime minister Stuart Young—prepare to mount a legal defence on their behalf.
According to a press release posted to social media yesterday by PNM lady vice chairman Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Beckles will be accompanied by a panel of attorneys. They will consult with all affected contractors at the Lisas Gardens Community Centre, Couva, from 10 am.
This follows the firing of over 300 CEPEP contractors on Friday, a move which is said to affect over 10,000 employees under them, days after Government announced a full audit of the programme’s assets, contracts and operations.
Taking to his Facebook page, Young posted, “I have been contacted by many affected citizens. To do this to families, including thousands of parents, is simply cruel, inhumane and wrong.
“I shall be reviewing this victimisation from a legal perspective to establish what action can be brought against CEPEP Ltd and the Government for these premature and cruel terminations.”
Young noted that the “continued assault” and “vindictive behaviour” of the Government “must not remain unchallenged,” but stopped short of indicating whether he will pursue the matter independently or under the leadership of the Opposition Leader.
Roger Boynes, who failed in his bid for PNM chairmanship at last week’s internal elections, also condemned the dismissals as cruel.
He told Guardian Media yesterday that he is being guided by a legal team—including Sanjiv Boodhu, another failed PNM internal election candidate—that is currently reviewing the CEPEP termination letters, original contracts and supporting documents.
Boynes has also called on all willing attorneys within the party to step forward and join the legal effort.
“We are reaching out to all of the PNM attorneys, including Mr Young, who have asked and who, in fact, is willing to assist. Any PNM attorneys that are willing to assist in the way forward in terms of helping these contractors, we certainly will welcome all hands on deck. Because at the end of the day, they are not just PNM contractors, they are contractors, they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Noting that he began work on the matter three weeks ago and has since completed a legal opinion and pre-action protocol letter, set to be forwarded to Young, Boynes assured the public that the PNM remains united, even as parallel legal efforts move forward.
He said a meeting will be held this week with the contractors who have signed on to the legal effort.
“We have reached an advanced stage. We have already had contractors who have signed a retainer with us even though we’re doing it pro bono. We have already reached an advanced stage. I only just saw, a short while ago (yesterday), where the Opposition Leader is having a meeting tomorrow (today). Law doesn’t work like this. Whole night we have been working with a team of lawyers,” he said.
“Law is a serious thing and we have reached an advanced stage with this because the Government has given the contractors seven days by which to come and give up whatever equipment they have to give them. So, if there is a need to file an injunction based on the legal opinion, we have to do so by Monday. This is a serious thing. It is not a game.”
He encouraged the contractors to Beckles’ clinic “because we are one PNM family.”
Fired contractor speaks
One terminated CEPEP contractor, who spoke under condition of anonymity yesterday, confirmed he was among the many affected.
The south resident, who has held a CPEP contract since April 2018, described the terminations as “sudden and unfounded.”
“This is a political football because right now. I could firmly say on behalf of my company, I fulfil all my contractual arrangements, all my statutory obligations like VAT, NIS, Green Fund Levy, everything up to mark. So, I don’t see the reason for the termination.”
According to the contractor, 35 individuals under his employment, including drivers, machine repair workers and administrative staff, are now out of work.
He also challenged Government narratives about contractors profiting excessively.
“I see that the minister talking all kind of $50,000, all kind of stupidness. When you really check out all what go on, the contractor does get roughly about $20,000 a month for management fee, which includes...you have to organise an office, you have to have a secretary, you have to have a van to carry your tools, you have to have your operational expenses, which is you have to take care of your machines, you have to buy gas, you have to do everything. And after all them expenses, sometimes you end up with a little $8,000, $9,000 based on how your expenses go.”
He said all contractors, regardless of their individual circumstances, have been terminated, suggesting a blanket purge.
The contractor also condemned the Government for its slogan “when UNC wins, everybody wins,” as he now believes it does not apply to everyone.
“So, technically, all of us now labelled as PNM contractors. Nobody was spared.”
Meanwhile, former finance minister Colm Imbert took to X noting that from 2015 to 2018, CEPEP contractors hired under the United National Congress administration were retained by the incoming PNM government, with no mass dismissals. He said this is unlike the “heartless, inhumane, discriminatory, dictatorial, and tyrannical actions” of the current UNC-led administration.
Efforts to contact CEPEP CEO Keith Eddy were unsuccessful.