The Hon. Hector Appuhamy

¶ 01 That is the issue — time is short. At that time — [It is okay, there were 14 minutes. 14 minutes were cut. It is okay.]

¶ 02 However, during my tenure as Chair of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Foreign Employment and Labour, we brought all these sections and discussed with every segment of the Department of Labour. What I realized is that less than 40 percent of what can be done is actually being done. Another 60 percent can be achieved. There is the National Productivity Secretariat. Then there is the Labour Welfare Fund. There is even a separate institution linked to the Divisional Secretariats. But in the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment too, there is such an institution, and much work has not been done with it. I spoke with the officers. There were capable officers. It became clear that their potential is not being fully utilized. The National Productivity Secretariat is within this workflow. But you have taken it out and placed it elsewhere. Now you have mixed everything up. Earlier, the Ministry of Labour was together with Foreign Employment. Now that you have linked it with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this too has been mixed up. But I think this should not be mixed up. It is my view that Labour and Foreign Employment should be together. Then we can resolve many issues.

¶ 03 Next, I have this report, but I will not table it now. It is still a draft. I hope to table this report in the future. Before I could present it to Parliament, Parliament was dissolved. Therefore, I could not present it. This has been for several years—