BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - DESPITE the government’s best effort to put a lid on the amount of money it is expending on the People's Empowerment Programme (PEP), it continues to rise.
On Tuesday (Aug. 23) Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris updated the National Assembly on the programme and the overall cost which he said currently stands $196M.
“Mr. Speaker, we said in our manifesto, dubbed the Prosperity Agenda, that we were going to reform, reorganize the PEP programme. I am happy to report that we [are] substantially on the way to doing that.”
Since the programme began in 2012 it has been hit with a number of controversies and was said to be an election gimmick by the previous administration to buy votes.
Similar sentiments were made in the House by the Prime Minister, who informed that if his administration has “to ensure that we restore any programme, it must meet the test of value for money and it must meet the test of fiscal responsibility and sustainability”.
Since the Team Unity Administration took office last year, there has been talk about “weaning” persons from the programme and cutting unnecessary cost through a revamp.
The Federation’s political leader revealed that according to a report, just over 130 persons had been trained since the programme’s inception.
Over the last couple of weeks, Dr. Harris revealed, PEP would be revamped to STEP and this initiative would provide hands-on skills to those involved.
“STEP will be a major advancement, a step up if you will, on PEP in terms of its philosophical underpinnings, the objectives deliverable and the cost to the country and it will be rooted in a people centered governance agenda.”
Dr. Harris pointed out that under this new programme, the skills learnt would transcend to new training opportunities that would land persons jobs in the private sector.
