Local Government Minister Marlene Coudray may be attempting political sabotage of the Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC) by refusing to give approval to pay the corporation’s $2.4 million debt, says chairman of the corporation Edwin Gooding.
Gooding raised this concern yesterday at a press conference at the corporation’s Tunapuna office, on the eve of an auction of six of the corporation’s vehicles in lieu of payment of the debt.
Other items, which will be auctioned by a court marshall today, include a pair of rubber boots, an orange cone, a spare tyre and a white tarpaulin.
The vehicles being auctioned include a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV, one Nissan Navarra, one Isuzu pickup and a Hyundai Tucson.
Two Mitsubishi Sporteros are also being auctioned today.
The vehicles were seized from the corporation this year and were formerly being used by the CEO, the senior superintendent, administration, the corporation’s Canine Unit and the Disaster Management Unit.
Other vehicles have been rented to replace the seized vehicles.
Gooding said the auction of the vehicles would significantly and adversely affect the corporation’s ability to serve its over 250,000 residents.
He said the vehicle seized from the Disaster Management Unit was of particular concern because of the increased number of bush fires occurring recently. The vehicles were seized after the contractor BK Holding took the corporation to court over non-payment for work carried out in 2009.
Gooding and the councillors called on Coudray to facilitate the payment of the $2.4 million, as ordered by the court.
He feared that following today’s auction, which was expected to recover a mere $700,000, more vehicles would be seized, further hampering the corporation’s service delivery to residents.
“All we are asking now is to get access to what we have. We have the money in our account. What we are asking the minister to do is to move the money into the appropriate head so that the cheque could be issued,” Gooding said.
He said the debt was incurred prior to the sitting council and under former TPRC chairman Khadijah Ameen in 2011.
Ameen is currently an advisor to the minister of Local Government.
“Since before October 2014 we have been pleading with the minister of Local Government, asking for her approval to pay this debt,” Gooding said.
He said the corporation was told, by Coudray, that Cabinet needed more information before it could give approval.
He said the information requested by Cabinet was provided, despite the Local Government Act stating that only the approval of the minister was required.
“The question really is, what agenda could the minister of Local Government have, that is designed to make a corporation fail in its responsibility?
“Can her agenda be to make this PNM council look bad? Is this political sabotage? I hope that is not the case, because when we were elected into office, we were elected to serve all the people in the Tunapuna Piarco region. It wasn’t for PNM people, it was for everybody.”
The council was elected after the 2013 local government elections, which saw the control of the corporation shift from the People’s Partnership to the PNM.
“The people who will suffer are the people who we have to serve,” Gooding said.
Gooding expressed confusion over the length of time taken by the minister to resolve the matter, as he considered approval for payment of debts to be routine.
“The minister is the only person standing in the way.”
Minister’s response
Yesterday, Coudray did not respond to a text message sent to her mobile phone or to phone calls during the break in the senate session.
However, on Monday, she texted Gooding to say she would discuss the matter with Attorney General Garvin Nicholas.
Nicholas said yesterday in an interview that he had been informed of the situation and had asked his staff to gather information so he could address the issue.
“I don’t have any information about it now, so I can’t tell you what can be done.”