A for­mer co­or­di­na­tor of the Com­mu­ni­ty-Based En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion and En­hance­ment Pro­gramme (CEPEP) is de­fend­ing the in­tegri­ty of its work­ers and op­er­a­tions, amid sting­ing crit­i­cism from Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

Speak­ing dur­ing a pre-bud­get con­sul­ta­tion in Siparia on Tues­day, the Prime Min­is­ter launched a blis­ter­ing at­tack on CEPEP, the Un­em­ploy­ment Re­lief Pro­gramme (URP), and the Na­tion­al Re­for­esta­tion and Wa­ter­shed Re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion Pro­gramme, brand­ing them as hotbeds for “ghost gangs” and crim­i­nal ex­ploita­tion.

Jus­ti­fy­ing plans to re­struc­ture the ini­tia­tives, Per­sad-Bisses­sar told sup­port­ers, “We have be­come a na­tion of grass cut­ters un­der the PNM. The CEPEP cut­ting grass, the URP cut­ting grass, Re­for­esta­tion cut­ting grass when they’re sup­posed to be plant­i­ng trees. They didn’t plant any.