P.M. Kamla Persad-Bissessar: Not A Cent More For Regional Corporations — $2.1 Billion Dollars More Than Enough

“PNM corporations should stop suskaying, because they’re not going to get a cent more than the almost one billion dollars that they are already receiving for this fiscal year.” This from Prime Minister the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP. She is also warning that the future monetary allocations to the regional corporations will depend on their delivery over the next eight (8) months until the next reading of the national budget.

In a statement issued on her X account on Saturday afternoon (24th January, 2026), the Prime Minister said, “Instead they should begin spending taxpayers’ money on services to citizens and not on feteing, rum, wining on the road and paying for ghost projects. In 2026, seven (7) PNM corporations will receive a total of 987.29 million dollars, 181.83 million dollars more than the 805.46 million dollars that the seven (7) UNC corporations will receive. There is currently a total of 13,406 people employed across all regional corporations. The seven (7) PNM corporations have 8,220 employees, 3,034 more than the 5,186 employees in the seven (7) UNC corporations.”

According to Mrs. Persad-Bissessar, “Taxpayers are paying 13,406 persons in local Government 2.1 billion dollars, however after 9 a.m. you would be lucky to see the majority of them out working. That’s because signing the attendance book and returning home by 9 a.m. has become entrenched policy across ALL corporations. Scraping up small mounds of rubbish and sand for two (2) hours to then leave on the sides of the roads to wash into the drains when rain falls is not a good use of taxpayers’ funds. My Government is not going to continue pumping billions yearly into these corporations while citizens continue suffering for basic sanitation and infrastructure services. Every day, teachers, health and protective services and private sector workers go out and work an honest eight (8) hour shift while many regional corporation workers, who despite also being paid for eight (8) hours, are not doing the same.”

She added, “The math is simple. Do your jobs fairly and provide honest services for citizens or else the Government will move to outsource and mechanize the majority of tasks performed by the regional corporations. CEPEP and URP ghost gangs, natural gas subsidies, overpriced goods and services contracts to the contract mafia have already been cut to stop the pickpocketing of decent hardworking law-abiding taxpayers. The future monetary allocations to the regional corporations will depend on their delivery over the next eight (8) months until the next reading of the national budget. Decent law-abiding citizens must get value for their taxes they pay from their hard-earned salaries.”

The Prime Minister’s statement concluded by saying, “The future of the regional corporations will be determined solely by the choices the 13,406 employees make in the next eight (8) months. Step up or step aside, citizens deserve much better from local Government corporations!”

More on this as it becomes available.

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