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Al­le­ga­tions of deep-root­ed cor­rup­tion with­in the Un­em­ploy­ment Re­lief Pro­gramme (URP) have sparked po­lit­i­cal con­tro­ver­sy. This, af­ter Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter Khadi­jah Ameen ac­cused the for­mer Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) ad­min­is­tra­tion of turn­ing the ini­tia­tive in­to a “feed­ing fren­zy” for friends, fam­i­ly mem­bers, and fi­nanciers.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions on the sta­tus of an au­dit in­to the pro­gramme from Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Min­is­ter Ameen claimed the URP, in­tend­ed to pro­vide tem­po­rary em­ploy­ment for the na­tion’s most vul­ner­a­ble, had been ex­ploit­ed for par­ti­san ben­e­fit.

“It is one of the ar­eas that the PNM used to siphon state funds to the pock­ets of their friends and fam­i­lies and ac­tivists, and it was a to­tal abuse of the pub­lic purse,” Ameen said in a tele­phone in­ter­view.