I listened intently to the Appropriation Bill 2016 eagerly awaiting the conversation about and allocation to Social Development. "Social Development" over the past years has eaten away at the fabric of T&T with no real results.
Every government, every budget, every Minister of Finance for decades, has used social development to the detriment of national development. When is not hampers and pampers giveaways, is baby grant, is food stamp and you can count on one hand the number of people who step away from these programmes voluntarily.
Most beneficiaries of social programmes receive more than one benefit, sometimes with an accumulative value higher than some gainfully employed folks. Indeed there would always be the less fortunate amongst us, but we have finally reached rock bottom where squander mania could find not place to hide. Two lines for social development! And hooray, not a dog bark.
Fourteen Thousand ghost card holders removed from the system. Dig deeper Madam Minister, I am sure you would find hundreds more. Good work, Minister of Social Development, monkey does know which tree to climb.
What about those who could be weaned off the system? Wean them off. They must move to become self sufficient. Madam Minister, I implore you to revise your means test. How many card holders use Government public transport to save a dollar?
How many cardholders' immediate household members shop online, yes shop online, or in de play whe booth four times a day? Eat according to your means (no insult intended); leave KFC, Royal Castle, Mario's for special occasions like long ago.
I believe social assistance, the necessary evil that it is, should primarily be for the mentally or physically challenged who need it, or for short-term relief. I wonder if recipients' faces were to be published before receiving it how many would apply.
A Davidson,
Morvant