Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has delivered a stern warning to regional corporations, declaring that no additional state funding will be allocated unless substantial improvements in service delivery are demonstrated within the next eight months. The current administration has allocated TT$2.1 billion to local government operations, which the Prime Minister insists represents more than adequate funding.
In a January 24 Facebook statement, Persad-Bissessar emphasized that taxpayers must begin seeing tangible results in sanitation services and basic infrastructure maintenance before any consideration of increased budgetary support. The financial distribution reveals significant disparity, with the seven PNM-led corporations scheduled to receive TT$987.29 million for fiscal 2026, compared to TT$805.46 million allocated to the seven UNC-administered corporations.
The Prime Minister highlighted concerning workforce productivity issues, noting that despite employing 13,406 personnel, citizens continue experiencing substandard sanitation services and inadequate infrastructure upkeep. She criticized the prevalent practice of employees signing attendance registers before 9 AM and subsequently departing from their duties, characterizing this as systemic inefficiency across all regional corporations.
Persad-Bissessar contrasted this performance with teachers, healthcare professionals, security personnel, and private sector workers who consistently complete full eight-hour workdays. She warned that persistent underperformance would trigger government intervention through outsourcing arrangements and mechanization of currently mismanaged services.
The administration has already implemented measures to reduce wasteful expenditure, including eliminating what she termed ‘Cepep and URP ghost gangs,’ terminating natural gas subsidies, and canceling overpriced goods and services contracts. The Prime Minister concluded that regional corporations’ future funding viability will be determined exclusively by employee performance decisions during the coming eight months, asserting that citizens deserve significantly better value for their tax contributions.