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When the
New National Party demitted office after
the July 8th elections, there were
several social safety net programmes in
place that provided much needed and
greatly appreciated relief to people
with great need. Many of the people
affected are families with little to no
flexibility in their household income to
accommodate the soaring cost of living
or sudden changes to their monthly
support/income. These programmes
provided critically needed assistance to
the most vulnerable persons in our
society by giving people access to basic
needs while also supporting them with
longer term programming.
This
article will be focused on the
programmes that provided for people's
most immediate needs, because the
immediate impact is what is felt first,
and the people who were once supported
by these programmes are suffering
greatly now.
The Food
Basket Programme, which has been put
on hold by the new Government, provided
vouchers valued at $100, $150 and $200
for vulnerable families. The families
could present their vouchers at
participating stores to cover the
expense of their groceries. The
programme was designed this way to
ensure that these people were not
deprived of the dignity of doing their
own shopping and making their own
consumer choices simply because they had
need. The programme was also designed so
that items such as cigarettes and
alcohol could not be purchased with the
vouchers. Most middle class families
know that a modest grocery bill for a
family of four can barely be less than
$250 a week and a well-to-do family
could easily spend $500 a week,
particularly if they are buying imported
food, so the loss of this assistance
will be hurting these families a lot.
The
School Book Programme, which has
also been cancelled, targeted vulnerable
students who were identified by the
Principal's and counselors of the
schools, as well as those who chose to
fill out an application form. This
programme provided all the textbooks
needed for students without any
stringent penalties for damage to books.
This is because the realities of poor
households often include many people
sharing a small space, roofs and windows
leaking in bad weather, no current and
many other conditions that could make
maintaining the condition of the books
very difficult.
The
Transportation Programme provided
bus fare for needy students to ensure
that poverty did not become a barrier
for them to attend school. This
programme by extension also provided
income for bus operators which helped
them cope with the soaring cost of fuel,
by keeping the buses full.
The
School Book and Uniform Programme
was a voucher programme that targeted
elementary school children. The maximum
value of the vouchers was $300, and it
was designed to protect the important
social ritual of school shopping parents
and children do together in September
when the school year begins. Because it
was a voucher programme, it also
provided the opportunity for the parents
to decide whether to use the voucher on
books or the uniform.
The
Housing Assistance and Materials
Programme provided rent vouchers for
people waiting for homes from the
Venezuelan and Chinese housing
developments. Putting this programme on
hold is threatening to deprive people of
access to shelter. Putting the materials
programme on hold has stopped
contruction work in progress, causing
great discomfort for people, as well as
prolonging the wait for people still
waiting for repairs to their homes.
The New
National Party has been informed that
all of these programmes have been on
hold since the election, without
replacement programmes. This is not
acceptable. If we use a single headed
household with four children, two of
whom are in secondary school, and two
who are primary school as an example:
That family will have been deprived of
$500 in food vouchers, $300 in uniform
vouchers, and at least $300 in
transportation assistance. In addition
to this, the two children who are in
secondary school will now have to
purchase the remaining books needed
which (depending on the number of
courses taken) could cost as much as
$800 each. The two elementary school
students in this family will have had
access to the free books provided, but
these books would have been free for
them anyway, so the positive impact
isn't felt in relation to the losses,
which in this scenario equals $ 2,700
dollars.
Clearly,
the Government of Grenada is not doing
its job to protect the vulnerable people
in our society.
The New
National Party would therefore like to
ask the Minister of Education to tell
the public how many people have actually
collected the free school books that
have been purchased with money that used
to provide for the programmes described
above. How many books have piled up in
the schools? How much money was spent
purchasing books for families that could
afford them, rather than using that
money for programmes described above?
The New
National Party would also like to
caution the Minister to pay careful
attention to the social indicators that
will very quickly illustrate the
consequences of their Government's
decisions. We can expect to see a rise
in the truancy rate, because families
will not be able to pay for the bus to
get to school. The Government will also
have to pay careful attention to the
sexual exploitation of young girls, as
predators encourage girls to provide
sexual favours in exchange for
transportation, clothes, food and
presents. The New National Party would
like to caution the Ministry of Health
to pay careful attention to the health
conditions of these vulnerable families
as the basic nutrition needs are no
longer being met. Even in the span of
two months since the election, the loss
of assistance combined with an increase
in costs can put many families
nutritional balance over the edge.
Children lacking basic nutrition will be
unable to concentrate and perform well
in school. Some may faint in the heat.
The
Ministry of Social Development must keep
their eyes open for an increase in
domestic violence and substance abuse,
which are known to rise when stressors
in family life increase – such as
financial pressures.
Therefore
the Leader of the Opposition holds the
view that the Government of Grenada must
reinstate these programmes immediately.
There is no
excuse for not providing social safety
nets when the Government has found so
much money to spend on themselves for
new vehicles, office furniture, and
blackberries as well as the replacing
the recently purchased furnishings in
the Prime Ministers Residence.
The New
National Party would like to remind the
National Democratic Congress that the
first principle of good governance is
taking care of the needs of the people
first, and insist that steps be taken
immediately to remedy their wasteful
spending and their lack of investment in
the people of Grenada.
NNP
Perspective week ending September 12th, 2008 |
