THA Secretary of Community Development, Youth Development and Sport pastor Terance Baynes has said Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) workers, who were owed outstanding salaries since late last year, have been paid.

Last month, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said he had mandated the administrator in the division to pay all outstanding salaries owed to the island's Cepep workers by February 25.

At that time, he said the accountant told him the money had been transferred to the division to pay the workers. Augustine had described the issue as 'vexing,' saying the workers had not been paid since December.

At the post-Executive Council media briefing on Wednesday, Baynes said on his way to work, he spoke to workers in gangs at Sou Sou Lands, Turtle Beach and Grafton to hear whether they still had issues with their salaries.

'All of these gangs have indicated to me that they have been paid and all their payments are up to date,' he said.

Baynes, the representative for Bethel/New Grange, dismissed claims from some quarters that a large number of Cepep workers still have not been paid.

He said he spoke to two women on Tuesday who claimed they had 'issues' with their payments.

'I have difficulty reconciling how these two people could represent an entire Cepep workforce that is not paid. So we need to put that matter to rest.'

Baynes said there appeared to be a concerted attempt to blame leaders for issues relating to late payment and other matters.

'The problem, as far as the officials have alerted me, is that there is always an attempt to blame the leaders, the principals and, in this case, the secretaries for these matters when things like this arise.

'But I am sufficiently informed that the devilry is not on the individuals but an internal mechanism issue, and we are going to do our best to make sure that this does not occur again.'

Baynes lamented Cepep workers are always used for 'some adverse political purpose. We have been seeing that over and over again and we are attempting to lift the morale of Cepep workers. We are attempting to set it up in such a way that the people working in Cepep do not feel inferior and are not mistreated or misrepresented.'

On a separate issue, Baynes said the division's vocational skills training programme is up and running.

'We started last week and I am so elated about it because of the response we have gotten. We have been oversubscribed, and I am very encouraged by that, which suggests that a lot of people want the training. We are trying to build a better space so that the opportunities can be much better for all.'

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