Navas said the matter was in the hands of the Minister of Local Government.

’But if Mr Panday feels he can assist us, I will welcome it. I will put politics out of the issue and deal with the workers’ concerns,’ she said.

Navas held a brief press conference at her office yesterday while Panday was across the road meeting with constituents of Jack Warner’s Chaguanas West constituency.

Asked why she took a decision to appoint People’s National Movement councillors on sub-committees Navas said: ’It should not be seen as a sell out to the PNM. How can anyone see it like that?’

She said the retrenchment of 54 contract workers from the Chaguanas Borough Corporation could have been prevented by former mayor Surujrattan Rambachan.

’When I took this position this problem was already existing and I understand Mr Rambachan was aware of it,’ she said.

The workers were told that the corporation was unable to renew their contracts because of financial constraints. They were told that the corporation’s budget was reduced by $5 million.

Navas said the workers were listed under short term contracts, which meant that their employment was not guaranteed.

’This could have been prevented because Mr Rambachan knew the funds were in the red and something needed to be done. I understand that he was advised to break the workers service for a few weeks and rehire them to ensure that the programme was running smoothly, but this did not happen,’ she said.

Navas said the retrenchment was not a ripple effect of the $5 million cut in the corporation’s budget allocation.