People recommended by UNC never got schols: Moonilal

Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal is one of the parliamentarians identified by culture minister Marlene McDonald as making representation on behalf of his constituents to get government scholarships.

The minister only stated that opposition MPs, including Moonilal, made requests. But she did not provide information on how many of those requests bore fruit.

On Friday, Moonilal answered the question, saying not a single UNC constituent or supporter who applied for financial assistance received bursaries from the culture ministry.

"Our constituents, those who we recommended, which is only a few, never received this type of funding...Their names are certainly not on the list and they have never indicated to us that they received any funding," Moonilal told reporters following the minister's statement.

He said the matter reeks of discrimination and said the opposition plans to take "several actions" against McDonald and the Government, including censure of the minister for failing to reveal the list when the opposition asked about it in Parliament.

Moonilal also suggested that there has been a breach of the Integrity in Public Life Act amounting to abuse of public office.