Senior Reporter
elizabeth.gonzales
@guardian.co.tt
The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) says that responding to a Freedom of Information request from Guardian Media on the hiring practices and a request to disclose the figures and those who were hired over the last year is a breach of its privacy.
In a 15-page statement responding to eight questions asked by Guardian Media, WASA explained its reasons for non-disclosure, four months after the request was initially made to the authority.
In its view, while acknowledging the public interest element of the questions, its overarching concern remained on the privacy of the individuals employed at the organisation.
On May 24, Guardian Media Investigation revealed that more than 400 people, including social media influencers, were hired by WASA following the general election on April 28, 2025. In addition, Guardian Media had copies of internal reports documenting the hires, job titles, salaries and the reason for the mass recruitment.
Prior to that investigation, Guardian Media had filed its FOIA request on March 9, 2026, and WASA delayed in providing a response.
A response was only provided last week, which generally said that WASA had found no completed audit, review or assessment of the recruitment exercise.
WASA said the records contain internal advice, recommendations and discussions used in making decisions. It argued that releasing them could create uncertainty among staff, affect morale and disrupt operations. It also said the records contain personal information that could identify employees.
“The Authority is nevertheless of the view that, in the particular circumstances of this request, the balance falls in favour of non-disclosure. The information sought comprises detailed payroll data, including salary ranges, wage bill breakdowns and comparative expenditure data across categories of hire. The release of such information in its totality would constitute an unjustified intrusion into the financial and employment-related interests of identifiable individuals. The persons concerned had a legitimate expectation, arising from the circumstances in which their remuneration records were created and maintained for internal administrative purposes, that such records would not be disseminated to the public,” WASA said.
“The Authority acknowledges the general public interest in ensuring that public funds are properly and efficiently applied to staffing. However, the Authority has identified no reasonable evidence that any significant abuse of authority, neglect in the performance of official duty, injustice, danger to public health or safety, or unauthorised use of public funds has occurred or is likely to occur by reason of non-disclosure of these specific financial documents,” it said.
WASA said it considered whether there was reasonable evidence of “a significant abuse of authority, neglect in the performance of official duty, injustice to an individual, danger to public health or safety, or an unauthorised use of public funds” that disclosure would reveal, and said it had identified “no such evidence on the material before it.”
The report titled, “Report on the Recruitment of Monthly Paid and Daily Rated Employees for the Period 29 April 2025 – 30 November 2025” which Guardian Media has, painted the real picture of the hiring of hundreds within seven months.
That internal report was compiled before Guardian Media filed its FOIA request in March.
It noted that the Authority’s audited financial statements, which are laid before Parliament in accordance with that statutory obligation, disclose aggregate personnel expenditure data for each financial year and are subject to parliamentary scrutiny through the Public Accounts Committee.
On June 15, Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath told Parliament that the number of people hired through WASA to date is 551. He said applicants went through the Authority’s Human Resources Department and denied that ministers directed appointments.
“I am not ashamed to say I hired through WASA, this government, 551 persons. I am not ashamed of that,” Padarath told Parliament.
“They applied for the jobs at the HR department of WASA. They made those determinations of who qualified for short-term employment,” he said.
A WASA source familiar with the recruitment exercise told Guardian Media that contracts for some workers hired during the post-election recruitment are due to expire this month.
The source claimed some of the social media influencers identified in Guardian Media’s previous report are expected to receive six-month extensions. The source also claimed that some other employees hired around the same period may not have their contracts renewed.
Padarath could not be reached for comment on the reported contract renewals.
Inside the recruitment exercise
The FOIA response comes weeks after Guardian Media received the internal WASA recruitment report documenting the hiring of 416 monthly paid and daily-rated workers between April 29 and November 30, 2025.
The leaked report said the recruitment exercise was carried out to address manpower shortages, reduce overtime costs and improve service delivery.
The internal report said recruitment was drawn from a database of more than 5000 applicants and processed through its HR department.
It identified 177 Administrative and Clerical workers, 69 Plant Operations employees, 68 non-skilled daily-rated workers and 45 Engineering and Technical employees.
The report also listed 22 Project and Programme Management staff, 10 Finance and Accounting employees and five Health, Safety and Environment personnel. Separate external executive appointments were also recorded.
The attendant was the single largest job title in the recruitment exercise, with 55 people hired at a monthly salary of $8,593.64. According to WASA’s job specification, obtained by Guardian Media, the minimum requirement for the position is a school-leaving certificate and/or the ability to read and write.
WASA- No completed audit, review, or assessment
WASA said that, after “a thorough and diligent search,” it had not identified any completed internal or external audit, review or assessment concerning staffing levels, recruitment practices or compliance with its employment policies during the requested period.
The Authority gave a similar response to Guardian Media’s request for a summary of everyone hired during the period by employment category, division and type of engagement.
It said it had “not identified any official document containing the information sought in the particular form or breakdown specified” and therefore could not provide the requested summary.
WASA said preparing such a document would require staff to collect and analyse records from several divisions and employment categories. It said doing so would “substantially and unreasonably divert” resources from its other operations. The Authority invited Guardian Media to reformulate the request.
