Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Bar­ry Padarath and the Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions Ser­vices of Trinidad and To­ba­go (TSTT) are at odds over re­ports of con­tract ex­pi­ra­tions at the state-owned tele­coms provider.

Padarath yes­ter­day pushed back against claims that the Gov­ern­ment was or­ches­trat­ing a “staff purge” at TSTT, al­though he ac­knowl­edged that some em­ploy­ees were near­ing the end of their con­tracts.

“How can it be a purge if it is short-term em­ploy­ment that is de­ter­mined by the man­age­ment of the com­pa­ny, not my­self or the board?” Padarath said when asked about the num­ber of in­di­vid­u­als who may be un­em­ployed at the end of their con­tracts.