With thou­sands now on the bread­line fol­low­ing the ter­mi­na­tion of con­tracts un­der the Com­mu­ni­ty-Based En­vi­ron­ment Pro­tec­tion and En­hance­ment Pro­gramme (CEPEP), the Un­em­ploy­ment Re­lief Pro­gramme (URP), and the Forestry Di­vi­sion, San Fer­nan­do East MP Bri­an Man­ning is call­ing for more sup­port for those who have been left job­less.

In re­cent weeks, Man­ning said his of­fice has been flood­ed with calls and vis­its from con­stituents who re­lied heav­i­ly on these pro­grammes. Many are now strug­gling to meet their ba­sic needs. Over the past two weeks, with as­sis­tance from the cor­po­rate com­mu­ni­ty, he has dis­trib­uted be­tween 60 and 70 ham­pers to the peo­ple who have been af­fect­ed.

On June 27, 300 CEPEP con­trac­tors were fired. This was soon fol­lowed by the ter­mi­na­tion of con­tracts un­der the URP and the Na­tion­al Re­for­esta­tion and Wa­ter­shed Pro­gramme. Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia by phone, Man­ning not­ed that these pro­grammes em­ployed some of the most vul­ner­a­ble peo­ple in the coun­try.