No food in the fine print

A former Universal Service Fund (USF) legal officer yesterday testified that neither of the agency’s contracts with the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) nor with a private training institution made provision for meals for participants in an unattached youth training programme.

Instead, she said participants received a monthly stipend of $10,600 from USF, paid fortnightly, to assist with transportation and the purchase of meals.

“I am not seeing anything in this agreement which indicates that CMU should provide meals to the TAP (Technology Advancement Programme) participants,” the witness told the court when asked about the university’s contractual obligations.