THE 24 new administrative positions in the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) in Tobago remain vacant, after the programme's restructuring by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) earlier this year.

The programme falls under the Division of Community Development, Youth Development and Sport.

Secretary of Community Development Terance Baynes was asked for an update on the recruitment process by Minority Councillor Petal Daniel-Benoit during Thursday’s 12th sitting of the Assembly, at the Assembly Legislature in Scarborough.

Asked many people have been re-engaged in the programme, how many were not re-engaged but were redeployed to other THA divisions, and how many people have neither been re-engaged or redeployed, Baynes replied, “Zero. zero, 37.”On July 1, Cepep workers received their termination letters signed by the administrator of the division, Earland Kent, which ended their contracts with immediate effect. It said that the THA had cause to review the operation and administration of the programme, noting that previous reviews were done in 2008 and 2012.

In the most recent review, in 2022, issues of duplication of functions between the different categories of staff, irreconcilable remuneration packages, a distortion of the reporting relationship with the programme, and the obsolescence of certain positions, among other anomalies, were discovered.

The division said the THA had to revise the organisational structure of the programme for optimum efficiency and service delivery and all contract positions had been made redundant.

Baynes said the initial administrative set-up of the programme had some 59 administrative positions and it was felt that it was administratively overweight.

“So we set that up to now have 24 positions.

“We had over 600-plus persons making the applications, and after short-listing, we started with the first layer, looking for three project support officers. We had the interview on (September 21) and here were three persons recommended – one declined, and two persons are considered for the position. We still need to find one more officer in that capacity.”

He said as it relates to the district officers, 15 persons were needed, however 17 were short-listed.

“Out of the short-listing group, we had 17 persons that were interviewed on the (September 19) and unfortunately, we were only able to have five persons qualified – they just didn’t meet the qualifications, so it meant that we have to go back.”

He added: “The point that I am making is that the process is incomplete, and we are doing a deeper dive to find officers. We are making some adjustments to some of the criteria so that we can be able to get the recruitment as we would like. We anticipate however that by the end of January, this process should be completed.”

Questioned further on the redeployments, he said it is important to remember that a person must be qualified for a position before any redeployment takes place.

He said the division realised "that several of the pers